A Daughters Return
by Dreams and Hard Realities
Summary: When Sauria is in danger for the third time, what will Isabella McCloud the daughter of the ledgendary Fox McCloud do? or will she just become a ledgend to only be spoken about? OC/OC pairing. Currnetly being "fixed up"
1. Prologue

Prologue—Five Years Earlier

**1700 hours, 13 August, 2102, Sauria, Walled City**

"_Something is lurking in the shadows."_

At least that what the king Earthwalker wondered as he padded through the forests outside of the Walled City. The only sound was the fallen leaves crunching under his feet and. There was no wind on this night. The monarch paused and stared up at the stars, letting his eyes reflect a comet that soared high above the canopy. The Earthwalker chuckled to himself and continued on his way.

Many years had passed ever since Fox McCloud and the Starfox team had saved the planet Sauria from General Scales, then a year later the Aparoids, but the king felt the presence of another great evil arising from the depths of the planet.

As he was walking, the Earthwalker suddenly came upon a small meadow surrounded by the trees. It supplied soft green grass underfoot and slicing directly through the middle was a cool, crisp stream.

Overcome by a wave of thirst, the king paced forward and took a long drink of the fresh water.

He sighed and lifted his head up to find himself face to face with another Earthwalker. He gasped in fright and staggered back, startled. Standing on the other side of the creek was another of his kind. The king looked closer and recognized him as the king before himself, and his father.

"Greetings," the old king said, dipping his head respectfully.

"He-hello," the king replied, returning the gesture, "What do you wish from me?"

His father shook, "Nothing, but there is something I could tell you right now."

"Oh," the king said, puzzled, "What is it?"

"That is something I cannot answer, peace will come to you when she arrives, but if you are sure, I will tell you of the evil that is rising."

The king thought for a moment, "I- I am sure"

The old king leaned in closer, "Okay, here's the secret…"


	2. Chapter 2: Lessons Learned

August 13, 2125/ 0840 hours/ Great Fox/ Space

Fox walked over to another door, opened it and yelled into it, "Peppy! Get your lazy butt out here, we need some Arwings!"

"Wha- Whazzat?" the old rabbit said as he was rudely woken up. Fox walked back down and sat down so Krystal could dress his arm.

"Oh yeah, you wake up the old hare, but not the frog," Falco said.

"Oh, calm down Falco, you know Slippy's been up the past few weeks upgrading the Arwing. He needs the rest."

"Yeah, I guess I should be thankful," the avian said.

"There you go," replied the vulpine.

While they were waiting, Fox opened the blast door to the armory and returned with two blasters. He tossed one to Krystal and holstered it.

He sat down and waited for Peppy to come out, once he did, Fox stood up and motioned for Bella and Krystal to follow. Together, they walked down to the hanger to find three Arwings waiting for them. Fox had it expanded since Bella would be part of the team soon. Fox took the middle one, Krystal took the one to his right, which left the one to his left for Bella. She walked up to the side, grabbed the side firmly with her paw, and swung her legs into the cockpit. She put on her head set and looked around the cockpit. She was already beginning to recognize everything, recalling moments from her early life, when Fox would take her for rides in the Arwing. She lowered the glass and listened as Fox told her how to make the adjustments on the G-diffuser so they could leave safely. Once all the adjustments were made on the communications line and all that, they were finally able to leave.

"Now, grab the two levers on the side and slowly pull upward," Fox said.

Bella obeyed, grabbing the two levers, she pulled up. The more she pulled up, the more pressure she felt build up underneath her. A few seconds later, a crevice opened, she didn't need explaining for that, she pushed forward.

Bella had never gone so fast in her life, everything zooming past her. She decided to slow down. so she pushed back down on the levers. Once she was going a pretty good speed, she decided to experiment by pushing up on one and pulling down on the other and found that she would roll, she did the same the opposite way and stopped to wait for Fox and Krystal.

"Did I do okay?" Bella asked.

"You did perfectly," Fox replied, "who knows, you might even be as good as Falco one day, once you get enough experience."

Bella realized Fox was correct, pride swelled up inside of her but she didn't want to brag because Fox and Falco had been friends before they were even Bella's age, and she didn't want to make Fox feel bad.

They continued with the lessons without any more flaws. Bella learned how to practically everything else, somersault, U-turn, fire the lasers and a whole bunch of other stuff.

After Bella learned everything, she and Fox sparred for a little bit so she would know what to do if she got stuck in a bad situation during a dogfight. She had to be carful about not shooting Fox's Arwing, knowing how protective he was of his Arwing. She thought about how Falco would react and couldn't really make an accurate prediction on how he would react to his damaged Arwing.

Once Bella was finished, she watched Fox and Krystal fly. She was shocked at how gracefully the Arwing moved. The worst pilot in the Lylat System could learn how to fly and would still move smoothly. She rested her head on the back of her seat and looked around. When she got to her left side, Bella nearly had a heart attack.

There was another Arwing sitting next to her. She switched off the communications between herself and her parents and looked closer. She expected it to be Falco or Slippy, but the aircraft looked to old and beaten to be one of them. She looked even closer and saw that it was the strange vulpine from the Great Fox.

"Wh-who are you, and why do you keep following me?" Bella asked.

He made a couple adjustments to his Arwing, looked back at Bella through the the glass and responded,"My name is... James McCloud."

Before she could respond, the Fox named James took off again and disappeared into space.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N- Yeah, I know that the chapter title doesn't really ahve anything to do with the content of the chapter, but it was the best thing that i could come up with.

and just so you know, I'm going to start writing another story about Fox's early life, but it might not be out for a while, sorry.


	3. Chapter 3: Welcome to Sauria

Welcome to Sauria

A/N: to all you peoples, I told you I'd be typing like the wind, so, here's Ch. 3!

Bella was confused, WAY beyond belief. She looked back in front of her to see Fox and Krystal sitting right in front of her. Fox appeared to be saying something, so she switched the communications back on only to be lectured by her father.

"What were you doing?!" he half yelled, "I became scared when I saw you staring at nothing."

Bella froze; Fox hadn't seen James, only she had.

"Sorry Fox," Bella replied, "I just… needed to think," she lied.

Krystal flew up next to Fox, "its okay," she said to Bella, and then added to Fox, "relax, if your daughter needs to think, then let her think, she's not doing any harm."

Fox relaxed a little bit, then suddenly growled, "I need some time, alone," and without another word, he flew off.

Bella stared after him hopelessly; she had never seen Fox so mad in her life. Her mother flew around next to her, "Its okay," she said, "I know what you saw, James is Fox's father."

Bella thought for a moment, she knew she must have a grandfather, but she had never given it much thought, "Oh… well, why doesn't he come and live with us on the Great Fox."

"Whenever James appears to Fox, he goes into a whole emotional state and forgets all of his duties to the Star fox team."

"Oh, okay, I see," Bella replied.

"Good, now let's go find your father."

They found him not much later, sitting in his Arwing, staring off into space. Bella stopped a ways away, "Should I tell him?" she asked Krystal.

Krystal, suddenly looking sad, shook her head.

"Hey Bella," Fox said once she got close enough, "sorry about my behavior."

"No problem," she replied.

"Why don't I make it up to you, I took the coordinates and were pretty close to Sauria. That's where I met your mother."

"Okay, that sounds cool."

"Right, just a second. Peppy, come in."

"Yep, I hear you Fox," the rabbit said.

"I'm taking the girls to Sauria, so I might be gone most of the day."

"Okay, I read you."

"Follow me," Fox said.

Eventually a large planet came into view. It was large, covered in blue oceans, brown mountains and green valleys. She felt a small lurch as she entered the atmosphere, but she figured that was normal. Eventually, she found herself flying around a small, sheltered hollow. She found an open space to land, lifted up the glass, tossed her helmet to the side and hopped out.

It was beautiful, lush and green, with soft green grass, small and large trees surrounding it. There was a waterfall that fell into a river that sliced right through the hollow. Trimming the outside were flowers with broad petals.

"So, what do you think?" Fox said, walking up next to Bella.

"It's beautiful," she replied.

Fox nodded and walked off to greet some of the large, olive scaled dinosaurs that dotted the clearing. She waked to the river and took a couple of drinks and stood back up. After looking around for a little bit, Bella found Fox and Krystal standing under a couple of trees.

"This is where I found your staff," he was saying

"Oh, umm… Hi Bella, do you need anything?"

"Well, I was actually wondering if you had any food," Bella asked.

"Gosh, um… I don't have any, but I do know where we can find some, let me see your staff."

Bella handed it to him, he took it and walked over to a tree, "Yeah, this looks right," and with that, he gave the tree a good _WHACK_ on the side. A split second later, a couple pod-like fruit fell to the ground; Fox picked one up and handed it to Bella. She looked over it and took a small bite.

She had never tasted anything so unique; it was juicy, earthy, yet sweet.

"What do you think?" Fox asked.

"It's delicious," Bella said around a larger mouthful.

Fox nodded and walked over to his Arwing.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Bella asked.

"Well, if you're up for it, I was going to take you to some of the important places of the planet."

"Oh, okay."

"Then let's go," he said.

Bella walked to her Arwing, hopped in, put on her head set, "So where are we going?" she asked.

"Well I was going to take you to the Cloudrunners first."

"Then let's go," Bella said and took off after her mother and father.


	4. Chapter 4: The Cloudrunners

A/N: YES

A/N: YAY! Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I had a stupid 8th grade science project due on the 20th and I didn't have ANY time for writing. My computers internet also broke down so I got it done and couldn't publish it. Sorry, and thanks for reading! Thanks for the reviews, please keep them coming.

1200 hours August 13, 2125/ Sauria

They took their time getting to the Cloudrunners. Fox, Krystal and Bella spent most of the time skimming the tops of forests and the surfaces of lakes. Bella looked out to the side to look at the landscape. She also and saw that there were a number of different dinosaurs watching them with curious eyes. She wondered what they were thinking as they watched strange metal birds somersaulting across the sky.

Eventually, a huge, tall fortress came into view. As Bella came closer to it, she saw that flying dinosaurs came flying circles around them, as in what she figured was a friendly greeting. She flew around the fortress several times and then found an open spot to land and, then walked over to Fox and Krystal. The same Cloudrunners that had come flying around them earlier had now landed in front of them.

"Greetings Fox, Krystal," the middle one said., "Who is this with you?"

"Oh, well, this is my daughter Isabella," the vulpine replied.

"Then greetings to you, Isabella," he replied.

"Oh, you can just call me Bella," the vixen replied.

"Oh, okay!," the The Cloudrunners were a bit too cheerful for Bella to handle.

"Do you wish to see the queen?," he asked, now talking to Fox again.

"Uhh… yeah, that would be nice," the vulpine replied.

"Okay, feel free to walk wander and look around. We will then we will take you to the queen."

"Thank you," Krystal said.

The three dinosaurs nodded and flew off leaving Fox, Krystal and Bella alone once more.

The three foxes walked through a pair of tall gates into a courtyard full of full-grown and small Cloudrunners. Bella sat seated herself and watched as the young ones played together and the older ones sait and talked.

"Hey, Bella, come over here!" the vixen heard Fox call to her.

Bella walked over to where he stood, "Hey Fox, what do you need?"

"Nothing, but there are a few things that I need to give to you."

"Oh, you don't need to."

"Come on, it's your birthday! You need to get something," he replied.

"Oh, fine," Bella hated to make her parents worry about what to get her for her birthdays. While she was thinking, Fox pulled out several things and handed her the first one, a pair of shoulder pads.

"Wow, thanks!" she said, apparently having a change of heart. She ran her paw over the winged fox on one of them.

He then took what looked like a leather case. Bella opened it up and pulled out a shining black blaster.

"Thanks, I've needed my own blaster since I've been using yours this whole time," Bella said, putting it back in the holster and clipping it back ointo her belt.

The last gift was a vest.

"Set it on the ground," Fox said, "I want to show you something."

Bella obeyed and set the silver vest on the ground and watched as Fox pulled out his own blaster and fired a shot. Bella gave a little squeak of fright, expecting to see a hole singed right through the vest, but instead of a hole, there was nothing there, as if nothing had hit it.

"Wow, thanks Fox, these are amazing," she said and hugged him.

"Your welcome, but there's two more things I have to give you."

The vixen let go and waited for while the vulpine to pulled out a smaller holster and hand it to her. Bella opened it up and pulled out a pistol.

"That is a 10mm pistol, great for all range combat," Fox said.

"Wow, this is really nice," Bella said, running her paws over the surface of the shining black gun. She put it back in the holster and clipped it onto the other side of her belt.

"There's also another thing I have to give you," he said, pulling out a larger gun, "This is an assault rifle that I had designed especially for you," he then handed Bella her the gun and a strap that she then clipped onto the gun and strapped it to her back.

"Wait, what about ammo?," Bella asked.

"Oh, thanks for reminding me, here. And in the container for the rifle, there is a scope that you can put on it and there you go, instant sniper," he said, handing her two containers of ammunition.

"Oh my God! Thanks Fox!" she said, hugging him again.

"No problem, my father did the exact same for me when I turned 18, it's the least I could do for you."

Bella walked back into the court yard with Fox to find Krystal waiting with the same Cloudrunners with they met before. She looked strangely excited.

"They said that we get to ride them!" the blue fox exclaimed as the two brown ones approached her.

"Then lets go," Fox said, climbing onto one of them.

Bella climbed onto another and then they were off.

It was even better than flying in the Arwing. Bella, closed her eyes and felt the wind in her hair and face, it was absolutely remarkable.

It wasn't a very long flight, but Bella made sure she made every second worth it. When they landed, she slipped off the Cloudrunner and walked through the tall archway in front of them. When she walked in, she saw a tall, majestic female Cloudrunner, which Bella she figured was the queen. One of the Cloudrunners flew ahead of them and whispered, "your majesty, you have visitors."

The queen, instantly out of her trace, looked at the three vulpines and smiled in greetings.

"Greetings Fox, Krystal, who is this with you?" the queen asked.

Bella rolled her eyes, she figured she had to get used to this routine if they were going to travel around the whole planet.

"Oh, this is my daughter, Isabella," Fox said.

"Then greetings, Bella," the queen said. Bella was extremely grateful she wasn't as dumb as the others from they met before.

Suddenly, a shriek came from the outside., Fox, Krystal and Bella, followed by the queen, ran outside. Down in the courtyard there was another dinosaur; large, orange-brown, thick legs and strong shoulders.

"That's an Earthwalker, they and the Cloudrunners don't get along very well," Fox said.

"Oh," Bella said, she wanted to get down there, but it was to long of a jump.

"Please," he was saying, "I'm just looking for Fox, Krystal and Isabella McCloud."

Bella wanted so badly to get down there, but she knew that she wouldn't survive that far of a fall. Suddenly she he suddenly felt the presence of James, she couldn't see him, but she heard his voice in her head, "_you can trust me. Jump, now!"_

At that same instant, more Cloudrunners flew into the clearing. and Bella jumped and landed on one perfectly.

"Take me down there, he said he was looking for me," the vixen said.

"No way! You want to get down there, you find your own way," he said and suddenly gave a shriek and tried to shake her off. Bella struggled to take out her staff out and hold on to him at the same time. Once it was out, she pressed it to his throat.

"You will take me down there," she growled in his ear.

He stopped his struggles, "Okay, but I'm not flying all the way down."

"You won't need to," Bella muttered.

Once they were close enough to the ground, Bella jumped off and put her staff away before walking over to the Earthwalker and waiting for Fox and Krystal to arrive. She eventually saw them running towards her from a different direction.

"Whoa! How did you do that?" Fox asked.

"Umm… I'm not really sure," Bella replied.

"Well, as long as you're safe," he then added to the Earthwalker, "Tricky how di…?"

The Earthwalker interrupted him, "No time, you have to come with me, now!"

"Okay," Fox said and ran off in the direction of the Arwings.

Bella stopped her mother, "Look, about the whole jumping off the building thing,… James told me to."

Krystal looked at her, her blue-green eyes full of understanding, "It's okay, let's catch up to your father."


	5. Chapter 5: The Chosen One

A/N Hey, here's Ch

A/N Hey, here's Ch. 5! Sorry, it may be shorter than my other chapters, but it's somewhat dense… I think. And just so you know, I'll be out of town the 30th through the 5th of April or something like that, so I won't be making any updates. :'(

1700 hours/ Sauria/ August 13 2125

The foxes couldn't take their time getting to wherever they were going this time. Being in a hurry, they were there in a matter of minutes. Bella landed immediately and hopped out almost as soon as her craft touched the ground. She walked over to where her parents stood with the large Earthwalker, who had ran the whole way there.

Fox was standing with him., "Okay Tricky, _now_ will you explain to us why we are here?," he asked.

Tricky shook his head., "Follow me," he said, and walked across a bridge that stretched over a river and onto a large plateau in the center. He led them around a large pyramid-like temple to a door that led underground. Standing in the center there was another Earthwalker and at her feet laid another, who appeared to be dying. Fox, Krystal and Bella ran forward and knelt at the side of the Earthwalker, who immediately began to talk.

"Fox," he rasped, "you have saved Sauria twice before, but I am afraid to say that there is one more evil that must be destroyed before peace if finally established here."

"What must I do then?" he asked.

The king shook his great head, "Not you, her," he said, looking at Bella.

"What must I do then?" she asked.

"Not even I know, all I know is that only you have the power to destroy it."

"Oh, I think I get it," Bella said.

"Isn't there anything we can do to help her?" Krystal asked desperately.

The king shook his head again., "No, you must refrain from any contact whatsoever," then he added, his breaths coming shorter, "you must sleep here tonight… you will be visited… by my grandfather… everything… will be revealed then."

Suddenly, fur brushed the fur on Bella's other side. She looked over to see James kneeling next to her. He placed his hand on the king's side, "Let go, I will watch over her, there is nothing to worry about," the king then relaxed and moved no more.

Bella stood up on her already stiff legs, she felt like a great burden had suddenly been put on her shoulders., "You heard what he said; I have to do this… alone."

Krystal chocked back a sob and hugged her, "Oh, Bella," appeared to be all she could say.

"It's okay Krystal," Bella said, "I'll be careful."

"Umm… gosh, I never expected something like this could happen, just… try to come back alive," he said Fox.

"Okay," Bella said.

"Crap! Call yourself a leader," Bella heard him mutter to himself.

"Well, I guess we'd better go then," Krystal said, grabbing Fox's paw.

"Wait," the vulpine said., "we've still got a couple hours, let's at least stay until nightfall."

"Okay," they all agreed.

It wasn't much of a night, Fox and Krystal needed some time alone, and so they walked off, promising they'd be back soon. So Bella just sat against a tree and twiddled around with her staff and rifle. Once As the sky was getting darker and darker, Bella could eventually make out the silhouettes of Fox and Krystal walking toward where she was seated.

"So much for 'be right back'," Bella muttered to herself and stood up. Krystal didn't say anything; she just walked up to Bella and gave her another gigantic hug.

"I'll miss you," the blue vixen whispered.

"Me too," Bella replied.

They hugged for what seemed like an eternity, once they finally separated; Bella took one last look at Krystal's tear stained eyes and walked over to Fox.

"Yeah, umm… just try to remember what I said earlier," the vulpine said.

They stood there for a while, but it eventually got to awkward for Bella to handle and she hugged him. This time it felt like longer than an eternity. Once they separated, Fox put his paws on Bella's shoulders.

"You are Isabella McCloud, you _will_ succeed," Fox said.

"I- I'll try," Bella said.

Fox and Krystal walked to their Arwings. Bella watched as they slowly climbed in and took off toward the stars.

Bella stared after them hopelessly. She couldn't believe it; the best day of her life had just turned into a nightmare.


	6. Chapter 6: Lesson 1

A/N- Uhh

A/N- Uhh.. Yeah, not much to say, here's Chapter 6

1950 Hours/ August 13 2125/ Sauria

Bella walked back around the pyramid, back down the slope and into the room where the king had lay, but instead of a large, suffering Earthwalker, there was a bed and thin sheet. Sitting on the bed, was James.

"Wha- what do you want?" Bella stammered.

"To make sure that my only son's only daughter doesn't get killed," he replied calmly.

"I don't need your help, go away," Bella growled.

"Okay, first of all, that's not a way to treat your elders. Second of all, I have advice that you _will_ need."

"Hmph, fine," Bella muttered.

James stood up and walked over to her and put his paw on her right shoulder, where the winged fox was, "Remember who you are, Bella. Never give up, trust your instincts. Now I just want you to rest right now, you're going to need it."

Bella looked up into the eyes she could not see, "Okay," she said.

James smiled and walked out of the room. Bella, feeling a bit better than before, walked over to the bed, kicked off her boots and took all of her weapons and set them on the floor near her bed. She lay down and pulled the thin sheet over herself. She didn't feel tired, but she eventually felt the soft blanket of sleep overcoming her.

Bella was standing in a large forest; she couldn't hear anything, only the wind in the tall canopy above her. She looked around and saw nothing but tall, thick trees. Bella felt her back and felt her staff, strapped there safely. She pulled it out, tightened her grip on it and walked forward, figuring standing there wasn't going to get her anywhere.

She suddenly stepped into a small hollow; it was only about a quarter of the size of Thorntail Hollow, but it was still very nice. It had soft green grass, surrounded by small bushes and off to the side she could hear a creek. Then she realized she was not alone, in the center, stood an Earthwalker.

"Greetings," he said.

"Umm… hi, are you the king's grandfather?" Bella asked.

The king nodded, "Yes, I know this is new for you, but you will catch on soon."

"Uhh… okay," Bella said.

"Now, after me, you will be visited by two other dinosaurs in your dreams to learn different skills, I am here to teach you mental and physical strength."

"All right," Bella said.

"First, let me see your staff," the old king said.

Bella, realizing she had even made her grip tighter on her staff, set it down at the king's feet. He bent down and examined it slowly, "Yes, this will be very helpful," he muttered to himself, "here you go," he said, rolling it back to Bella with his head.

"Thanks," Bella said.

"Now, let's see what you can do."

Bella picked it up and began to practice.

After a while the king stopped her, "You are good," he said, "but I can make you better. I want you to focus all of your thoughts on strength, and then try again."

Bella obeyed and focused all of her thoughts, just like the king had said, and miraculously felt the difference; she felt the strength flow through her body as she practiced again.

"Good, very good," the king said, "Now, if you ever feel like something is invading on your mind, then to fight it off by forming a wall around it."

Bella thought about what the king said, she had often felt Krystal trying to read her mind when she was sad or felt lonely. Since Krystal was a telepath, she would search Bella's mind for the purpose and then talk to her about it. Bella would often times try to resist it, but it would not always work, "Okay, thanks," she finally said.

"Good, now, you must go to the Cloudrunners next and receive your next lesson from them."

"Okay," Bella said. Suddenly, everything began to spin around Bella and she was lying back under the temple at the Walled City. She got up and rubbed her eyes. Bella usually didn't really remember dreams that well, but she remembered this one, crystal clear, as if it wasn't a dream. She sat up and put her boots back on, then, she bent back down and picked up her staff and rifle and strapped them onto her back, followed by her pistol and blaster, which she put into their holsters. She stood up and walked outside.

The morning was cold, but Bella's fur was able to keep her warm enough. She then thought about her dream, she decided to see if the king's advice had actually worked. Bella pulled out her staff and focused all of her thoughts and began to practice again. It had worked, it felt exactly the same, like it had in her dream. She stopped and looked at the staff, amazed. Bella looked around and saw the queen and Tricky walking towards her.

"Were you visited?" the queen asked in a cracked voice when she had gotten close enough to Bella.

Bella nodded., "He said I had have to go to the Cloudrunners," she said.

The queen thought for a moment, "Very well," she said.

Bella nodded and walked over to her Arwing. Before she got in, she looked around. She thought she could see the Arwings of Fox and Krystal sitting there, but Bella's mind was playing tricks on her, she knew it would be a long time before she ever saw her parents again. She climbed in and thought for a moment.

"Oh, James," she whispered, "I'm so sorry for my behavior."

She was suddenly was overwhelmed by his presence, "It's okay, he said in her mind, "no matter what happens, I'm always with you."


	7. Chapter 7: Capture and Rescue

A/N- Yay, Ch

A/N- Yay, Ch. 7! I just got back from Lake Tahoe skiing! It was da bomb! Anyways, enjoy, keep the reviews coming! Oh yeah, and I won't be continuing my poems for a while. I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING TO SAY FOR SLIPPY! Please help if you come up with anything, otherwise, I might end up killing myself. XP.

0830 hours/ August 14 2125/ Sauria

Bella didn't see any reason to hurry, so she took her time getting to the Cloudrunners. Doing She did her best to remember how Fox, Krystal and she had gotten to where the Earthwalkers lived so she could backtrack to the Cloudrunner's fortress. She eventually saw the fortress, standing tall above all the trees surrounding it. Bella flew around it a few times before landing and hopping out. She walked through the pair of tall gates that led into the courtyard and was relieved to find that the queen was sitting in the courtyard, watching some of the others do their work. As Bella walked towards her, the other Cloudrunners scattered away from her.

The queen opened her mouth to speak, but Bella stopped her, "I know I had to leave suddenly with the Earthwalker, but I need to sleep, if you'll have me. Then I'll go away and won't be a part of your business anymore."

The Cloudrunner thought for a moment, and then said, "Very well., I'll take you to a room."

"Thank you," Bella said.

The queen led Bella down several hallways until they reached what looked more like a dungeon then anything else, but the vixen didn't say anything., she She could tell that the queen was agitated enough with Bella leaving with the prince of the tribe that they hated the most. Suddenly, the queen stopped and opened a door that led to what looked more like a cell, thaen a decent looking room. Bella looked into itinside, "You gotta be kid-," but she was cut short., Ssomething from behind her, grabbed her staff and rifle and yanked them out before pushing her violently into the cell.

"What do you think your doing!?" Bella screamed before getting up and running toward the door. SBut something, though, held her back; she looked down at her paws to see that chains had wrapped themselves around her paws. Bella looked back up and bared her teeth in a snarl of pure hatred at the queen, but the Cloudrunner seemed unaffected.

"This is what happens to those who come to the aid of the Earthwalkers then come back to us," the queen scoffed at Bella, who was still pulling against herthe chains. She and was now letting out a the vicious growl that had risen in her throat loose, until it became a and snapped and a bite in the queen's direction.

The queen shut the door and walked away. Bella gave one last bark of anger and walked to the back of the stinking cell and sat down, still growling silently. Then she got an idea, they had taken her staff and rifle, but not her pistol and blaster. She pulled out

the pistol, aimed it at her chains, and fired. Nothing happened.

"Crap!" Bella said. That wasn't going to do her much good. She put her pistol away, and leaned against the wall in the back of the room and let a single tear run down her face, but it was followed by many othersmany others followed it.

Bella stayed there for days, maybe even weeks, crying, getting small amounts of sleep at a time, and even refusing to eat the small amounts of food that they gave her. Bella felt herself being driven closer and closer to insanity as the days inched by, one after the other. One day, or night, Bella had no idea, the door clicked and swung open to reveal a young looking Cloudrunner.

"What do you want?" Bella snarled at him.

"To help you," he said, "come with me."

"Wait, why?"

"I'll explain later, just come with me."

Bella, forgetting about the chains, stood up and walked forward.

"Oh, sorry," he said and muttered a few words under his breath. The chains immediately released themselves and clattered to the floor, "Now come with me."

Bella followed him as he led her back up in the direction of the courtyard and opened up a door that led to a more decent looking room.

"Hope it's enough," he said and left the room again.

Bella sat down on the soft bed and waited patiently for the Cloudrunner to return. Several minutes later, he walked in with Bella's staff, rifle and some food.

"Oh my God, thank you," Bella said, grabbing the weapons and food from him, she sat back down and began to eat, "Okay, now will you explain to me why you came to get me?" she asked.

"The whole tribe is now aware that there is a whole new evil that is overcoming the planet., but tThe queen's been so paranoid nowadays of late that the whole tribe is becoming more worried and hostile. So when you came back, since after you had left with the Earthwalker, the queen thought you had been planning something with them and were going to attack us. So she dealt with you quickly so we didn't have the chance to be 'attacked'. I would have come sooner, but the queen had the place under heavy guard for quite some time, and I would have been dead if I was caught trying to rescue you."

"Oh, that's okay, just as long at I'm out of that place, it It was driving me crazy."

"I'd better go," the Cloudrunner said, walking towards the door, "the queen is probably wondering where I am."

"Wait, why would she want to know where you are?" Bella asked.

He looked back at her with sad eyes., "She's my mother," he whispered.


	8. Chapter 8: Turn of Events

Unknown time/ Unknown date/ Cloudrunner Fortress

Okay, Chapter 8, I know it took forever, but it's just stupid schoolwork and all that crap. Please keep reviewing, it really helps.

--

Unknown time/ Unknown date/ Cloudrunner Fortress

Bella sat down on the bed and took her boots off. She stretched her feet out, to let them get air in them. She took off all of her weapons and set them down next to the bed just in case she would need them. Bella lay down on the soft bed, realizing how tired she was, Bella instantly fell asleep.

She was standing back in the same forest as her first dream. Bella walked forward and eventually came across the same hollow as before, but instead of the Earthwalker, it was a Cloudrunner.

"Greetings," she said.

"Hi," Bella said, "what are you going to teach me now?"

"I am here to teach you grace and speed in combat. Now, I want you to think about nothing but grace."

"What about speed?"

"With grace comes speed."

That seemed to make sense, Bella took out her staff, focused all of her thoughts and began to practice, but she stumbled a few times, something was troubling her.

Bella stopped, "What exactly is it that I'm out to destroy?" she asked, "It's really starting to bug me."

"No, no, we must not get off track, try again, you could use the practice."

Bella snorted and tried again, this time with success, but she was still suspicious, the queen was hiding something from her, but she didn't know what.

"Okay," the queen said, "that's enough for now, you can practice later."

Bella stopped and put her staff back on her back.

"Now you must go to the tribe called Lightfoot, they will give you your final lesson."

"Okay, where do they live?"

"They live in the marshes of Sauria, once your there, your in the right place. Oh and you'll need these," she said, pushing a pair of boots toward Bella, "you will need them several times, and when you wake up."

Bella bent over and picked up the boots. Suddenly, everything began to swerve just like it did in her first dream.

She was lying back down at the fortress. Bella sat up and looked next to her bed and saw the boots that the queen had given her were sitting next to the bed. Bella leaned down and picked them up.

They were almost the exact same thing as Bella's regular boots, only they had softer padding at the bottom so they would make less noise. She strapped them on, holstered her guns and grabbed her staff, rifle and boots before she ran out the door without making a sound. She was almost to the front when she heard four bone-chilling words.

"The prisoner has escaped!"

There wasn't anymore time for sneaking, Bella hurried to strap her staff and rifle to her back and booked it. She looked behind her back and saw several Cloudrunners flying in her direction, but they were quickly gaining on the vixen. Suddenly Bella heard a shriek come from the other side of the fortress and a Cloudrunner came racing around and took the other one out in midair. Bella made the mistake of stopping to watch as each Cloudrunner fought for their life above the water. Nor much later, a large weight crashed into Bella and sent her rolling across the ground. She rolled herself to stop her momentum and stood up.

"Thought you could get away?" he sneered.

"Yeah!" Bella said and punched the Cloudrunner in the side of the head, hard. Once she made sure he wasn't getting up for a while, Bella stood up and ran to her Arwing. She tossed her boots inside the cockpit before hopping in herself and took off.

After mindlessly flying around for what seemed like forever, Bella stopped, frustrated and leaned back into the seat, "How am I supposed to find the Lightfoot, if I don't even know where the marshes are," she muttered to herself.

Suddenly there was a flash, Bella looked up and saw an Arwing fly past her.

"James?" she said.

"Follow me," came the reply.

Bella followed him over plains, oceans and even ranges of volcanoes until they were eventually flying over marshes.

"Thanks," she said.

James didn't reply, he only took off once more. Bella landed and hopped out, but she kept her helmet on and put out the scouter, so she could see things in the dim light the setting sun was giving off. She walked around for some time, but there was no sign of any dinosaurs. It was getting late, so she was walking back to her Arwing, when something caught her eye. She bent over and took a look at it. It was a footprint, and it was fresh. Suddenly, a huge weight landed on Bella, pinning her down.

"Going somewhere, McCloud?"


	9. Chapter 9: Mysteries Revealed

Okay, chapter 8. WEEKEND! So I don't have to worry about homework or any of that crap. -

Unknown date/ unknown time/ unknown location

Bella struggled feebly under the weight of her unknown attacker. Whoever he was, he planted a paw in the center of Bella's chest and raised the other, balled in a fist, aimed straight at her muzzle. When he brought it down, Bella raised her paws up and caught it. Bella yelped as she felt her wrist snap from the impact, but she kept on fighting anyways, struggling to hold back the tears of pain. She discovered that she could still move her legs, so she raised them up and kicked him square in the stomach. The attacker howled in pain and let go of her.

Bella stood up, took out her staff with her good paw, and pressed it to his throat, "What do you want from me?" she snarled.

He whined and kneeled down. Bella pushed the tip of her staff harder into his neck. He suddenly growled and yanked the staff out of Bella's weak grip. He tossed it to the side and lunged at her, while the unprepared vixen barked in surprise as she was carried off her feet. Her helmet fell off as she slammed head first into the ground. She looked up and saw the shadow looming over her again. Bella suddenly felt a sickening pain in her gut as a knee slammed into her stomach. He got off her again and Bella grabbed her stomach and curled up to let the pain slowly subside.

She slowly managed to stand, yet had to dive again to the side to avoid another vicious attack. When she got up this time, she saw him slowly walking up to her; she could hear the growling in his throat. Then Bella had an idea; when he got close enough, she swung her leg around tripped him. He landed on his back, and Bella got on top of him, sticking her knee in his gut and punching him in the side of the mouth, hard. He pushed her off him and down onto the ground, causing her to hit her head on a rock. She opened her blurry eyes to see what was going on, but he was again on top of her, fist raised. Bella closed her eyes, but nothing could prepare her for the pain that exploded in her head.

Blackness…

A pair of boots…

Blackness…

Bella struggled to open her eyes. She stumbled up and tried to see what was in front of her, but her blurry vision kept that from happening. She was barely able to make out a large shadow standing directly in front of her. There was yet another sickening pain in her stomach; she doubled over and waited for the inevitable blow to the side of her head.

Bella struggled to open her eyes again. Her vision was still blurry but she could barely make out a small fire in front of her. She tried to stand up only to find that her paws and feet were firmly tied together. She looked to the other side of the fire to see if she could finally get a look at whoever attacked her.

He was a wolf. He was older looking, yet had a very aggressive demeanor one might expect from someone younger.

"Who are you?" Bella rasped.

"Ha! The daughter of Fox McCloud doesn't know who I am. I am the great Wolf O'Donnell, leader of the Star Wolf team!"

Bella was confused; her father had never mentioned anything about Star Wolf. "But what do you want from me?" she asked.

"I want to kill your father. By killing you, he'll be too grief stricken and not want to fight back, which will make it a swift and easy death for him!" Wolf offered Bella some of the stew-looking food he was eating, but Bella kept her jaw clamped tightly together. "Suit yourself," he said and continued to eat.

He continued to ask Bella questions, but she kept her mouth shut.

"Damn it!" he yelled, "you're no use to me at all!"

Bella only laughed, "You said you were going to kill me anyways, so what's the point?"

"The point is," he snarled, "by getting information out of you, I'll hopefully be able to learn your father's weak points, so it will be easy for me, and hard for him."

"You don't have the guts," Bella swiftly retorted.

Wolf roared and picked up the nearest weapon, which was Bella's blaster. "Watch me," he snarled.

Bella just stared into the hard, black eyes. Wolf's paw trembled and he dropped the gun.

"Not yet," he growled.

Bella heard something that sounded like a battle cry of some sort and several shapes burst into the small clearing. The one in the lead threw himself at Wolf. He was small, but the force he carried was enough to take the lupine down. Two came up to Bella and cut her loose. She stood up, rubbing her paws to get the blood flowing again. She grabbed all of her weapons and walked over to where Wolf lay, bleeding. Bella stood over him and pointed her blaster right between his eyes, but she couldn't kill him in cold blood. Instead, she moved the gun up and shot him across his ear. She had, however, made the mistake of standing to close to his legs. Wolf howled and began to flail about in pain. One of his legs took Bella's and she fell over, hitting her head on an exposed tree root. She struggled to get up and looked around. Her vision was blurry and she was getting dizzy; she fell over again sand everything faded to black.


	10. Chapter 10: The Dream

A/N- O.o Bella's dead! Oh no! Read and see what happens.

Unknown date/ unknown time/ unknown location

Bella slowly opened her eyes, she was lying back in the hollow where she had her two previous lessons. She stood up and looked around. Something was wrong with this picture; she felt absolutely no pain in her body. She turned around and saw James standing there.

"You fought well," he said.

"Uh… yeah, I guess. Why am I here? Am I dead?" Bella asked.

James shook his head. Suddenly, Bella heard muttering and saw the bushes rustle before she saw a familiar vulpine shape enter the clearing. It was none other than her father, Fox McCloud. Fox looked around then saw James. He shook his head a couple of times in disbelief.

"D- Dad?" he stammered. James only smiled and opened his arms. Fox whimpered and staggered forward and fell into the waiting arms, sobbing. Bella waited patiently as the two foxes had their small reunion. Then Bella noticed something. Instead of Fox's eyes being their deep green, there was no color in them at all. She could immediately tell something was wrong.

She hated to do it. "No!" Bella screamed and launched herself at James, tackling him as she separated him from his son. He struggled briefly, a vicious growl escaping his throat. That, she believed, wasn't something the real James would likely do. She stuck her knee in his gut, causing some of the struggles to slacken. Involuntarily, Bella stuck both of her paws on the side of his head and somehow absorbed all of whatever it was that was in James. She let go of him and stood up. She looked at her father and noticed the color had returned to his eyes. She sighed in relief, but she was unprepared for the excruciating pain that she felt after that.

Bella suddenly felt like she was on fire, she felt like her mind was being driven into insanity. It felt like daggers were driving themselves into every inch of her body. She collapsed and gripped her head with both of her paws, fighting it of the best she could, screaming out in pain as the torture continued.

Bella looked up from where she lay. Every thing seemed to be moving in slow motion. She saw Fox trying to run towards her. He was yelling and tears were streaming down his face. James was holding him back though. Once Bella thought she couldn't take anymore, the pain began to ebb. Slowly, the pain reduced and everything went back into normal speed.

James let go of Fox who immediately ran to Bella, picked her up and cradled her close to his chest. She wrapped her arms around him and cried into his muscular torso. Even when she was out of tears, Bella continued to cry into his tear soaked shirt.

Fox eventually lifter her up and looked into her eyes, "Oh, Bella," he whispered, "I'm so proud of you."

Bella felt new tears welling up as she stared into the soft, green eyes. She curled up into his chest once more and continued to cry.

Once Bella had stopped crying, she looked up to see that James had gone. She and Fox sat for a little while, talking.

"How have things been?" Bella asked.

"It's been different without you. Krystal misses you very much, but she'll be glad once I tell her you're safe."

Bella did her best to explain what had happened to her over the past weeks. Fox completely flipped out when she told him about the Cloudrunners.

"They did what!?" Fox said.

"Look, Fox, it's okay. I'm fine."

Fox groaned, "Just wait till I get my paws on them..."

"No, Fox, please don't. I've already got a lot on my mind."

Fox growled, "Okay. What else have you done?"

"Uh… not much," she lied. If Fox reacted that way about the Cloudrunners, she didn't even want to know how he would react about Wolf. Bella yawned, realizing how tired she was and rested her head of Fox's shoulder. She closed her eyes and slowly fell asleep in her father's rocking arms.


	11. Chapter 11: Heratige

A/N- Yay! Here's the next chappie! Told you I would update!

--

Unknown date/ unknown time/ unknown location

Bella slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, but her body knew she was lying in some sort of hut. Pain had now returned, causing every inch of the vixen's body to ache. Bella sat up, trying not to put weight on her broken paw. She raised her other paw and touched her head lightly. It had been cleaned, but it had been badly bruised due to all the blows she had taken there. Bella looked around and saw her weapons sitting in the corner. Bella sighed in relief, not knowing what she would do if they had been lost.

Bella heard a footstep and looked to the side to see a small, reddish- brown dinosaur walk in. Bella flashed her a quick smile, but the small raptor gasped and ran back outside. Bella shook her head, confused: had the dinosaur been scared of her? She was uncertain for a moment until she heard the exited voice outside.

"Chief! Chief, she's awake!"

Bella chuckled to herself; she didn't want this kind of welcoming. Not long after, the same Lightfoot returned, another behind her. The one who Bella assumed was the chief, sat down in front of her, while the other one sat down next to her and gestured for the vixen's paw.

"You. You are the one?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Bella said trying not to wince as her broken paw was wrapped tightly in cloth.

"You will sleep here tonight?"

"Sure."

"Very well, feel free to walk around. You can sleep here at nightfall."

"There you go, all done," the female Lightfoot said and pushed Bella's paw back towards her.

The chief stood up and walked out, followed by the female. Bella sat there for a couple minutes, letting it sink in. She stood up, grabbed her rifle and pistol. She was walking out when suddenly, everything came back to her. Bella ran outside and caught up to the Lightfoot.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" he asked.

"My Arwing," Bella said. "Where's my Arwing?"

"The plane?" he said, "do not worry, it is taken care of."

Bella sighed in relief, "Oh, thank you."

He walked away, leaving Bella alone. She looked around so she could get familiar with the place. It wasn't much, a small village in a small, protected marsh. She would have practiced with her staff, but with a broken paw, she couldn't manage it.

For most of the day, Bella sat and watched the daily routine. Occasionally a Lightfoot would come up to her and offer her some food, which Bella ate gratefully. Then she would go back to watching the dinosaurs. Some would go out to gather food, others stayed to guard the camp while the older ones would sit and watch the smaller ones while parents were working.

When night had fallen and most of the Lightfoot had gone to sleep Bella seated herself by the river and watched the stars. Then she saw something startling: the stars seemed to be moving. She looked around, and, once again, nearly had a heart attack.

"James!" she growled, "Why do you always have to do that!?"

He laughed, "Don't worry; I'm not going to kill you."

Bella groaned and looked back up at the moving stars, "Are those-?" she began.

James nodded, "They're worried about you."

Bella nodded then suddenly thought of something. "Can you tell me… about what really happened to you?"

The vulpine bit his lip, "Are you sure?"

Bella nodded.

"Okay then."

He put his arm around Bella and began to speak, "As you may already know, I was the leader of the first Starfox team, Peppy, myself and Pigma Dengar."

"Who's Pigma?" Bella asked.

"I'll explain later. I was also married to your grandmother, Vixy Reinard. God, she was a wonderful woman. We were married for several years then had Fox. Damn, you see him now you should have seen him as a pup, that guy was nothing but fur and energy."

Bella tried imagining Fox as a toddler, but found it almost impossible. She laughed to herself and went back to listening to James.

"We were married for several happy years, then tragedy struck our family. When Fox was only four years old, Vixy was killed when our car exploded," he sighed. "I knew something was wrong, too. I should have stopped her."

Bella looked up at the fox, "Don't worry, there was probably nothing you could do."

"Yeah, but, your poor father, the loss was almost unbearable for us. Fox losing a mother at a young age, me, losing my wife when we hadn't even been married that long. Anyway, thankfully, Fox had not much trouble going through school and at the academy. Since I was in the Cornerian military and not the leader of Starfox yet, Fox got to learn how to fly when he was 16."

"Hmph, I would have loved to do that," Bella said.

"Yeah, then, several days after Fox graduated from the academy, the small investigations that were still going on about the car somehow discovered who planted the bomb."

"Really? Who was it?" Bella asked.

"His name was Andross Oikonny, a brilliant scientist who worked in the research labs of Corneria. He had apparently had a major crush on her in high school, but we had been dating for awhile. She had a kind spirit and had probably done something nice for him, and he took it the wrong way. Once he was proven guilty, he was sentenced to exile on the planet Venom. There, Andross built up a huge army and attacked Corneria. Peppy, Pigma and I had recently formed the Starfox team and, after the invasion, were the only ones fit to go and investigate. So, we quickly went to Venom and easily destroyed the little bits of army that Andross had left. Without any warning, Pigma went insane and nearly destroyed Peppy's ship, but not mine. He left and I told Peppy to get back to the Great Fox. He refused, and I reluctantly left him to go and fight Andross, but I wasn't prepared for what I faced."

"What was it?" Bella asked.

"Uh… I don't know how to tell you this, but he had turned into nothing but a giant head and hands."

"Eh… How is that possible?" Bella suddenly blurted out.

"I don't know, but it was creepy. Anyways, I tried to kill him but my lasers, even bombs, wouldn't affect him."

"So… How did you survive?"

James tensed, "I- I didn't."

"But wait, you've been coming to me, you're solid, you were there in my dream," Bella gave James an experimental push to make sure he was really there.

"Don't worry," he said, "I travel between this life and the afterlife. I had no control over what I did in your dream; Andross had taken over my own spirit so I could control Fox's."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Bella said.

"Good, now, I want you to go to bed and get some rest, you're going to need it."

Bella stood up on her now stiff legs and began to walk away. "Oh, James," she said, turning around, but the vulpine was gone.

"Thank you."


	12. Chapter 12: Lesson 3

A/N- Okay, Final lesson that Bella has, then the rest will be pure intensity and suspense, and a little bit of romance. O.o

Unknown date/ Unknown time/ Lightfoot village

Bella slept dreamlessly that night. When she awoke, she had forgotten where she was until she was able to play everything back to herself in her mind. Bella sat up, but she had forgotten that she had her cast on and accidently put too much weight on it. She gasped in pain and fell back down, cradling her paw. Once the pain had subsided, Bella stood up, not putting any weight on her broken paw this time, grabbed her rifle and pistol and hobbled out.

The sun was already high up in the sky, but Bella didn't care, she needed the rest. The vixen walked around for a little bit then decided to go outside to check on her Arwing. She walked out of the village and into fresher air. Bella looked around and eventually saw her Arwing, sitting not that far away. Bella was walking over to it when she saw her helmet, which had fallen off during her fight with Wolf. She walked over to it, picked it up and looked over it.

It was in pretty good condition, there were scratches in several places, but not that bad. She checked the scouter, which was unaffected as well. Bella took it and walked over to her Arwing and tossed it in so it wouldn't get damaged anymore. She looked over the plane to make sure that it hadn't been damaged either. Thankfully, it hadn't and Bella was finally able to relax. She stood there for a little bit, leaning on the hull of the fighter jet, thinking about what she should do. Then she thought of something.

Bella walked away from her Arwing and back into the camp. She grabbed her staff from the hut and walked back out. The vixen walked up to one of the thicker trees, carved a rough target in it and got in some target practice, saving her ammunition just in case she needed it for later. Once she thought she had practiced enough, she sat down against the tree, thinking. After a while, Bella heard the gate open and she saw a Lightfoot walk out carrying some food.

"The chief said you were out here. How are you?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Bella replied, "thanks," she said as the dinosaur set the food down next to her.

The Lightfoot walked away and Bella picked up the food and began to chew it slowly, thinking. When she had finished eating, she stood up and walked back into the village. Bella sat against one of the stone walls that surrounded the village and watched some of the littler Lightfoot play. Bella was beginning to drift off when she heard the voices of some older Lightfoot.

"Do you really think she is the one that will join with the Grey One?" she heard one say.

"Well, who else do you think could? Of course she is."

"Yes, but don't you know their fathers are terrible enemies. What do you think will happen if they meet?"

"I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see what happens and see if the two of them have enough power to get rid of this evil."

Bella wanted to listen to the conversation more, but she looked up and saw the sun beginning to disappear behind the trees. She stood up, realizing how stiff her legs were getting and walked over to her hut. She set her guns and staff down in the back and sat down to eat some of the food that was sitting on the floor near her mat. After eating, the tired vixen lay down and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Bella expected to end up in the same forest as her dreams from before, but this time, she was standing in a marsh, just like the village, except there were no huts or Lightfoot. Bella reached for her staff, which was always on her back in her dreams, but it wasn't there, neither was her rifle. She felt her belt for her handguns and found that they weren't there, either.

"Don't worry, you won't need your weapons," a voice from behind Bella said.

Bella turned around and saw a Lightfoot standing several yards in front of her, "But, why?" she asked.

"This lesson is not about fighting, I will teach you silent speed and how to blend in with the shadows."

"Oh, okay," Bella said. She at least wanted her blaster; she didn't feel comfortable without a weapon.

"Don't worry," he said, as if he had read Bella's mind, "You wouldn't need to do anything with them anyway."

Bella still wasn't too happy, but she would have to cope with it. "Okay, what do I do first?"

"Pick a point anywhere around here and run to it."

Bella realized why she didn't have her weapons. Not just because she wouldn't need them, which was of course, true, but she didn't need all the weight from her guns and staff. She picked a bush that was sitting about 20 feet away and ran over to it. As she was running, Bella noticed that her feet were making somewhat loud noises as they hit the ground. She stopped when she got to the bush, and waited to see what the Lightfoot had to say.

"You are fast," he said, "but you're footsteps are too heavy, you need to lighten them and that will be perfect."

Bella waited for a second, letting the information sink in, and then tried again.

She felt like she was floating across he ground, one foot after the other. She was surprised that it had actually worked. When she arrived back to the Lightfoot, he looked extremely pleased.

"Very good," he said. "Very well done. Come here, there is something else you need to see."

Bella obeyed and came closer to the raptor.

"I want you to think of nothing but darkness and moving with the shadows," he instructed her.

Bella closed her eyes and focused all of her thoughts. When she opened her eyes again, she didn't feel anything special.

"I don't feel anything," Bella admitted.

The Lightfoot chuckled, "Oh, but you look quite a bit different. See for yourself."

Bella, now confused, turned around and knelt down next to a puddle and nearly jumped back. When she looked the first time, it looked like there was nothing there at all. When she looked closer, Bella could barely make out the outline of her slender body. Her bright blue eyes had even dimmed and were hard to see. Bella's thoughts slipped and she went back to her normal colors.

"Whoa," she whispered.

Bella stood back up and turned around. Instead of being in the same marsh as before, she was standing in a completely different landscape.

It was nothing but a barren wasteland. Dry cliffs surrounded the place, trees bent over from the lack of water, there was even a large dip where a river would go. Though the place was seemingly new, it struck Bella as shockingly familiar.

"Thorntail Hollow," she whispered, "What happened here?"

Then something caught her eye. Sitting right in front of the vixen there was a flower, its broad blue petals stretching out wide. Bella recognized hit as a sign of hope, that something good might happen if she acted fast enough. All her thoughts disappeared instantly as she saw what happened after that.

Dark shapes began entering the clearing. As they began to walk around, Bella felt cold and hopeless. She wanted to run, but her feet were glued to the spot. She looked down at the flower, hoping it was still there. She suddenly went numb as she saw what happened to it. It began to lose its color, the broad petals began to shrivel in and dry up as the creatures crept closer.

"No," Bella gasped, but she couldn't do anything. The flower, the last source of hope, was gone.

Suddenly, Bella was standing back in the marsh, standing in front of the Lightfoot.

"This can't happen," Bella protested, "how, why?"

The Lightfoot shook his head, "those are questions I can't answer, you must find out for yourself."

"But…" Bella began, but she was too late, everything began to spin in front of her, but she could hear the voice of the Lightfoot, and soon, James in her head.

"Don't worry, everything will be revealed soon enough. Just be strong and we will always be with you."

Bella closed her eyes, all her fear gone, confidence and strength filled her mind as the voices continued to speak, giving her encouragement and hope. Warmth embraced her body, as everything faded.


	13. Chapter 13: Partners

A/N- Okay, here's the deal. Here's the next chapter yadaydadayada… Oh, something new! I got grounded a couple days a go and will have very limited time on the computer. So yeah. Here.

Unknown time/ unknown date/ Lightfoot Village

Bella's eyes flew open. The dream was still vivid in her head, along with the lesson, the vision and the strange voices.

"Don't worry, everything will be revealed soon enough. Just be strong and we will always be with you."

The words had caused a feeling that Bella had never wanted to forget. It was so warm, so comforting. But all good feelings must come to an end. She wasn't done yet though, there was still much to do for Sauria. She sat up and noticed something; her paw didn't hurt even though she hadn't put weight on it.

Bella slowly looked over her paw; nothing seemed different, just that it hadn't hurt when she had expected it to. Bella slowly unwrapped the cloth that was wrapped around her wrist until the material was completely off. The cloth hit the ground with a light thunk. Bella grabbed her paw and slowly pressed it back. She kept going, afraid that it would start to hurt and her paw would be broken all over again. But it never came. The vixen let it go and continued to move it around, making sure that it really wasn't still injured. She was confused though, an injured bone couldn't heal that fast. That didn't matter now, the paw was healed and she could now do more than she could do before she had broken the bone.

Bella stood up and grabbed all of her weapons before walking outside. Soon after, she found the chief.

"Hello," he said. "Can I do anything for you?"

"Uh… well not really," Bella began, "sorry it's on such short notice but I have to go."

"Oh, no that's okay," he said, "go, go."

"Thank you," Bella said and ran out.

Bella immediately ran to her Arwing, which still sat just outside the village. She hopped in and made all the adjustments she needed to. But she didn't take off immediately, like she would've. Instead, she sat there for a few minutes, thinking. Should she really have gotten herself into this? This could really be a lot more than she had expected. There was no turning back now though, Bella had to keep going. She sat there, tapping the levers of her Arwing, she wanted to check into the Great Fox, but could she? Bella picked up the headset and pressed it up to her ear before dialing in the Great Fox. It was static at first, and then someone spoke.

"Great Fox," a robotic voice said, ROB.

"ROB?" She said, "It's me, Bella, is Fox there?"

"Affirmative."

The line went static again. Bella wondered if the robot had even understood what she said. She was about to set the headset back down when she heard a new voice come over the comm. link.

"Who is this," she heard a somewhat aggravated voice said. Bella smiled to herself, it was Fox. He must have lost some sleep, and ROB must have forgotten to tell him it was her.

"Fox, it's Bella," she said.

"Oh my god, Bella, you don't know how great it is to hear the sound of your voice!"

Bella laughed, "It's great to hear from you too, how are you?"

"I'm fine, how are thing going with you?"

"Interesting enough," she said, "Hey, um… have you been having any problems with Starwolf lately?"

"Uhm… No, but, why and when did you even find out about Starwolf?"

She had blown it, now she had to tell Fox, "Well, you see…I…well, I was attacked by Wolf a couple days ago and he captured me. And…"

She was cut off by Fox, "HE DID WHAT!!" Bella had to pull the headset away from her ear, "What the f-ck Bella, why didn't you tell me!?"

Bella put the headset back on, "No. I'm fine now though, I broke my… sh-t."

"What?" Fox pressed.

"I broke my paw while fighting Wolf, but it's okay now," she quickly reassured him.

"I know you probably are, but you never tell me these things. Iit worrys me Bella."

Bella suddenly felt bad, she always kept big details of her life out of her father's, "I know Fox," she said, "I'm sorry."

"That's m'girl," he said, "Always keeping me on my feet. Oh boy, Falco and Slippy are fighting again. I gotta go, sorry."

"Okay, I'll see you later."

"Bye Bella."

Bella felt bad, her father was always so calm and patient, after his reaction about Wolf, she felt like he was being driven insane. She sighed and was about to set the headset down when she heard someone else pick up the comm. and answer.

"Bella, is that you?" a female voice said. Bella could hear yelling in the back round. She laughed to herself before responding.

"Hey Krystal, how are you?" she replied.

"I'm doing fine now that I know you're doing fine, I've been worried sick."

"Well yeah, I'm doing fine. It's sure been interesting, a lot of things have happened."

"Really? Like what?"

"Uh… ask Fox, he'll tell you, it would be better if you heard it from him."

"Why."

"It's a long story, and I need to go now," Bella responded, in the back, she heard Falco yell and the high pitched noise of a blaster charging. "Are you sure everything's alright over there?"

"Well… oh boy, looks like Fox needs some help. FALCO! Don't you dare! Sorry honey, I need to go."

"Okay, bye Krystal."

"KRYS!" Bella heard Fox yell.

"You'd better go, bye."

"Bye Bella."

The line went static again and Bella set the headset down. She sat there for a little bit then took off.

Instead of heading straight to the hollow, Bella took a couple of detours. Once the sun was higher in the sky, Bella stopped in a grassy hollow to find some food and stretch her legs. After she had eaten, she practiced with all of her weapons. She also practiced with her camouflaging and keeping her thoughts focused as she did it. After several hours, she saw the sun beginning to go down. She climbed back into her Arwing and took off.

It didn't take long for Bella to reach the hollow, but when she got there, she felt a pang of pity. Just like in her dream, it was stripped bare of all it's life; she couldn't even see the large, gentle dinosaurs that lived there. She flew around it couple times to make sure there was nothing there. Once she had confirmed to herself that there wasn't, she picked an open spot to land and hopped out. She noticed that the scouter had put itself out, but she kept it that way. She reached behind her back and un-hooked her rifle from the strap and held it tight against her chest, bracing herself for anything that might jump out at her. Then she heard something, it sounded like a footstep. Bella put her finger on the trigger and stepped towards the noise. Soon she found herself standing in front of a large boulder. Bella positioned the gun on her shoulder and stepped around the huge boulder.

"WOAH! What the heck do you think you're doing!?" a male voice said. Bella dropped the rifle, which clattered on the ground. Bella bent back down to pick it up and put it right back on her shoulder.

"Who are you?" she asked.

He put his arms up, Bella guessed he was completely unarmed, "My name is Jared Wolf O'Donnell, son of Wolf O'Donnell. Uh… I'm also apparently supposed to save Sauria with someone else."

Bella lowered the rifle, "My name is Isabella Vixen McCloud, daughter of Fox James McCloud, most of the time just known as Bella. If you're supposed to save Sauria with someone else, then I'm the one. Pleased to meet you," Bella stuck out her paw.

"Yeah, whatever. Come with me, it's not safe to be out here in the open like this," he said and turned around, not bothering to shake Bella's paw. She put it down and followed the wolf into a cave. In the center, there was a small fire.

"Aw crap, the fires running low again. Wait here, I'm gonna go get some more wood."

He walked out without saying anything more. Bella stood there for a second, she didn't really like the way this wolf was acting. She walked to the back and saw his weapon pile; there were two pistols and a rifle. Bella took her staff and rifle and set them down next to the lupines, followed by her pistol and blaster.

"Wow, you've got a lot of weapons."

Bella turned around to see Jared walking in, wood in his arms, "Oh, well, yeah," she said.

"No that's alright, I actually think that it's pretty cool that you carry around so many weapons," he said, tossing some wood in the fire.

"Oh, uh… okay," Bella said. She was about to go sit down, but she grabbed her pistol and made sure it was loaded. She wanted to be ready just in case he was anything like his father. She put it in its holster and walked to the fire sat down in front of it to warm her paws. He sat down on the other side so she could finally get a good look at him.

He was obviously a wolf, he had dark gray fur, and his black ears were tipped with white. On each ear, there was a black ring. Around his neck, there was a black chain that bore a cross. Bella's family had never been very religious, but she had heard bits and pieces about religion. He was wearing a large, black leather jacket and underneath, was a bluish-black shirt. He had baggy blue jeans on and a belt similar to Bella's, only it was black, and he wore large, brown boots. His total appearance was that of a rebel, but his eyes defied all that. They were a bright green that reminded Bella of moss. He suddenly stood up.

"You like fish?" he asked.

Bella thought she had never been that fond of fish, but she hadn't eaten for so long, she would eat almost anything. "Sure," she replied.

"Good, cause that's all I have. Cooking them might be a problem though.

"I think I have an idea let me see them."

Jared handed her the gleaming fish. She set them down on the ground, took off her silver vest, and set it on top of the scaly surface. Bella walked to the back of the cave and picked up her blaster.

"Uh… what are you doing?" Jared asked.

"I have no idea," Bella replied, pointing her blaster at her vest and fired several shots. She walked back and set her blaster down with her other weapons and then put her vest back on. She knelt down and felt the body of the fish. To her surprise, they were quite warm. She picked them up and tossed one to the stunned wolf.

"There you go! Warm, decent food."

"Wow, thanks," he said.

"No problem," she said and sat back down in front of the fire and took a bite of the fish. It tasted surprisingly good. Jared sat down next to her.

"So, how did you end up here?" Bella asked.

"My father's been teaching everything about being a mercenary. I enjoy flying, but it's like he's trying to teach me how to hate your father's team. My parents also got divorced, so Wolf's always in a bad mood. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore so I ran away. After mindlessly flying around for a while, I found this place. The Lightfoot found me and told me about what I was supposed to do. They also told me I was supposed to find a fox. I'm guessing that's you."

"Yeah. Gosh, that explains so much."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, Wolf attacked me and wanted to kill me so he could kill my father."

"Jeeze, he's officially gone insane. How did you end up here?"

"A while ago was my 18th birthday, and so Fox brought me down here. While we were at the Cloudrunner fortress, an Earthwalker came and told us to come with him. We met the dying king and he told me what I was, apparently, supposed to do. So, I've been stuck here ever since."

"Hmph, at least you have a good relationship with your father. Wolf and I were always fighting. I was glad when I found this place though."

"Yeah, it's a nice place. At least it used to be."

Jared stood up, "Well, it's getting late and now that there are two of us, we can take watches. I'll take the first one. In my bag there's a blanket you can use for your head." He stood up and grabbed his own rifle before walking outside.

Bella walked over the lupine's bag and opened it up. There were two blankets, containers of ammunition, a canteen and several other things. Bella was so tired, though, she just grabbed one of the blankets. She tossed the blanket down next to the fire and as she knelt down, her pistol fell out of its holster and hit the ground with a clattering sound that echoed around the cave with a clear, loud smack. Bella was about to put it back, when she found herself standing up and putting it with her other weapons. She knew she could trust the young wolf. She walked back over to the fire, laid down and gazed into the dimming blaze. She felt something about the wolf though. It was a weird feeling; she had never felt it before. Was it affection? Bella shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts of Jared. Nevertheless, it was comforting; she closed her eyes and let her thoughts carry her to sleep.

--

A/N- O-o NEW CHARACTER!! I've been waiting to write this part for soooooo long! I really like the way I made Jared and his personality, it's really fun. Anyways, looks like the Lightfoot cleaned up their act a little bit. Thanks for the reviews!


	14. Chapter 14: Not All Fun and Games

A/N- Okay, this is my other favorite chapter, this is also when Jared and Bella start getting a little… READ! AND FIND OUT! -. PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING!

Unknown time/ unknown date/ Thorntail Hollow

A steady shaking caused Bella to wake up. She opened her eyes and looked to see what it was. It was Jared, gently shaking her shoulder.

"It's your turn to take watch," he said.

Bella drowsily stood up, grabbed her blanket and walked to where her weapons lay. She picked up her rifle before walking outside. Bella wrapped the blanket tightly around her and kept her rifle in the other paw at the ready. Even with Bella's thicker fur, she was still cold.

The rest of the night passed on without flaw. Bella didn't see anything suspicious, but she could feel there was something out there, waiting for the perfect chance to attack. Bella looked up and saw the sky beginning to lighten. Thankful that her shift was almost done, Bella closed her eyes.

Not much later…

Bella slowly opened her eyes. She was lying back in the cave at Thorntail Hollow. She lifted her head up and looked around. Jared wasn't in the cave. Bella sat up and did her best to warm her paws on the leftover coals in the fire.

"Heh, it's about time you woke up."

Bella looked behind her to see Jared walking in with wood in his arms. It took her a while to realize what he meant, "Oh… I fell asleep. I didn't mean to. I…" she paused, his expression wasn't angry. Instead his green eyes were soft and full of understanding.

"I'm sorry," she finished quietly.

He shrugged, "It's no problem, it was a stupid idea anyway."

"No, no, it was a great idea, I've just been really tired lately. It wasn't your fault, it was mine."

"Stop blaming your self. Like I said, it was a stupid idea."

Bella knew that this was a fight she wouldn't win, "Hmph, suit yourself," she muttered.

"Please," he said, "I don't want to have to argue with you, not like I had to with my father, I…" he stopped short and looked away shyly.

"What?" Bella asked.

"I… well, this is going to seem really stupid, but… well, I… I kinda liked you when I first met you."

At first, Bella was shocked and wanted nothing more than to yell at him, but she kept herself calm, "Oh," she said, but then she realized she had felt the same way when she had met him for the first time, "don't feel bad," she continued, "because, well, to tell you the truth, I felt the same way too."

His green eyes lit up, "Really?" he finally said at last.

"Uh… yeah," she replied, reaching her paw behind her head in slight embarrassment, "but it can't work. We've only known each other for about a day now and, I'm sorry, but it just can't."

Jared looked away for a second, "Yeah, I know, but think, your father's Fox McCloud, right?"

Bella nodded.

"Well, he and my father might make a truce."

Bella thought what the wolf said made sense. "That's true," she began, "but it's not as simple as that, they're not just going to get together and say 'Hey, let's make a truce,' it can and will be a long and difficult process, and if were not so lucky, violent."

Jared folded his arms across his chest, "I know, I'm just naming off some possibilities," he remarked.

Bella sniffed, "So you say."

The wolf leaned forward, "Yes, I do say. I don't see you giving any possibilities."

"Because I know there's a possibility that this won't work out."

Jared leaned back. Bella thought she could see a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. She stood up and walked to the back of the cave and grabbed her pistol before walking outside.

"Wait, where are you going?" Jared asked coming up next to her.

"I- I'm going to see if I can find any more food," Bella lied. She really just wanted some time to think for a while.

"Oh, okay," he said. "Just please," he paused, grabbing her paw, "be safe."

Bella pulled her paw away and held up her pistol, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

She turned around and walked to her Arwing, Jared staring helplessly after her. Bella lifted up the glass and climbed into the cockpit. She didn't take off right away though, instead, she slammed her head against the targeting computer.

"What the heck is wrong with you!?" she yelled to herself, "You should know better!"

Bella sat back up, rubbing her head and took off.

She flew around aimlessly, mainly just exploring. There wasn't much to explore, though. Most of the areas of the planet were dried up and deserted, just like the hollow. She would stop occasionally and gather some of pods, like what she had eaten when she first arrived on the planet, and take long drinks from the creeks or rivers.

Bella looked up at the sky. It was beginning to get dark; she was walking to her Arwing when something caught her eye. She took a couple steps back to see what it was.

It had to be the strangest thing Bella had seen in her life. It had to be at least as tall as Bella. A sharp, pointy head and a thick scaled body didn't make them look like the friendliest thing that one would meet. It sat motionless, barley visible in the shadows of the trees. Bella quickly dove behind the cover of a tree.

Then it spoke.

The creature lifted its head and let out a strange, metallic screech. Bella closed her eyes and covered her ears, trying not to scream out.

When it had finished, Bella let go of her ears and drew in several gasping breaths. As soon as it had started, similar shapes entered the clearing. Realization struck her like a dagger; these were the same things Bella had seen in her dream with the Lightfoot.

"Elites!" the first one began, "time to keep moving, tomorrow at dawn, we will move on to Lightfoot Village then back to Thorntail Hollow."

The others yelled and shrieked their agreements as they began to separate into groups of two or three. Bella growled in dismay, she couldn't let them keep going. Even if there were more, there would be less if Bella took these out. She fumbled for her pistol and poked out behind the tree. She struggled to keep her paw steady as she took aim and fired. A split second later there was a high pitched scream and Bella saw the lead Elite fall to the ground. The others lifted their heads and looked around, obviously confused of what had happened.

Her adrenaline was pumping now. Bella raised the pistol again and fired blindly. There was another shriek and she saw another fall to the ground. The six that were left began advancing towards where Bella sat. She stepped out from behind the cover of the tree.

The Elites gasped, "Is it her?"

Bella smiled, "You bet," she smirked and took out three. Another gave a yowl of fury and launched himself at her. She ducked, but one of its claws snagged at her ear. Bella barked in pain and stood back up, shooting it as she did so. She whipped back around to face the last two, but instead of doing anything, the Elites began backing away.

"COWARDS!" Bella screamed and shot them both. They fell to the ground in a shrieking black heap.

Bella shoved the pistol back into its holster. She tried walking back to her Arwing, but all her adrenaline was gone... she sunk onto her knees and slammed into the ground unconscious.

The next day…

Bella's eyes slid open. Her whole body was sore, especially her ear. She groaned and pushed herself up onto her knees.

She was still lying back in the forest from the day before, sunlight dappling the ground. She stumbled up and nearly collapsed again. Surely an attack like couldn't have done that much to her. She hobbled to the Arwing and scrabbled into it. Bella sat there for a second, recalling what had happened to her the night before and took off.

As she flew, Bella found herself wanting nothing more than to get to the hollow and fall into Jared's welcoming arms. She landed in the hollow and half climbed, half slid, out of the cockpit of the craft. She landed heavily on her feet and clasped the wing of the Arwing with her paw to prevent her from falling.

"Bella?"

Bella looked up to see Jared rushing towards her.

"Jared!" she cried and using the last of the strength she had, threw herself into Jared's arms.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well, I was getting food and when I was leaving I found this thing. It called to these others, I think they called themselves the Elites, and they were going to come here. I couldn't let them do that, so I dealt with them. I passed out after that. I'm sorry, that was stupid of me."

"No, well, it was good and bad."

"Oh well. I just feel like I could sleep forever now," as she said it, Bella felt Jared sweep her legs out from under her and begin carrying her to the cave.

"I can walk you know," she protested.

"I know."

"Aren't I heavy?"

"No, you're fine."

Bella didn't have much of a choice, but she was so tired she found herself snuggling closer into the wolf's warm chest and falling asleep.

Next day…

Bella pulled herself into consciousness. She was lying back in the cave. She lifted her head up and looked around. Jared wasn't inside; she sat up and felt her ear. It stung a little, and she could feel where the Elite's claw had scored her ear. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked herself back and forth.

"Well, the sleeping angel wakes up at last."

Bella looked over her shoulder to see Jared standing at the entrance of the cave, his arms folded across his chest.

Bella ducked her head and looked away to hide her embarrassment, "How long have I been asleep," she finally asked.

"All of yesterday, I didn't want to wake you up though."

"Mmm, well then, I guess I should thank you."

Jared walked forward and sat down next to Bella, "Hey, it's no problem, I found myself so worried constantly… did I tell you that you were talking in your sleep?"

"No, what was I saying."

"A lot of it was hard to understand, but I think you said something about 'James' or, I don't know, something like that. Do you remember having any dreams?"

Bella shook her head, "No. And that's really weird 'cause usually I remember all my dreams."

"Well, it's done and over with now."

Bella grunted in agreement and stood up, stretching and began walking outside. Jared called to her and ran out in front of her.

"Wait, you're not going out again are you?" he asked.

Bella struggled to prevent herself from breaking out laughing, "Heck, no, I'm not going out for a while after what just happened."

"Oh, right."

"I'll be right back."

Bella turned around and walked to her Arwing. She lifted up the glass and looked inside. All the pods she had collected were still there. Bella leaned into the cockpit and gathered them up into her arms. She stepped back down, closing the glass as she did so and walked back to the cave. She went inside and set the pods down in the back of the cave and picked one up and began to eat it, letting it flow into her body, filling her with new strength.

When she had finished the food, Bella turned to Jared, "You wanna do some target practice."

"Sure, let's go find something to shoot."

Bella bent down and picked up all of her guns. She also picked up her staff just because she hadn't carried it around in so long.

They walked around the hollow together for a little bit before Bella decided to carve a target in one of the cliffs surrounding the area. When she had backed up next to Jared, he pulled out his pistol and fired. Almost instantly, there was a small mark in the dirt about an inch away from the center.

"Ha! Beat that," he laughed and stepped to the side. Bella only smiled and took out her own pistol and fired.

Dead center.

Jared's jaw dropped.

Bella pushed him, "Come on. You look like you've seen someone come back from the dead."

The wolf shook his head, "Wha- oh, yeah."

They both continued, Bella didn't do much with her pistol since she had begun to run out of clips.

When Jared had finished, Bella picked her rifle up, took a few steps back and fired. She hit the cliff several inches away from the center.

"Darn," she muttered. Jared took his rifle and took a shot; he had gotten a lot closer than Bella.

"Nice," she complemented.

He shrugged.

Bella looked around and noticed her Arwing sitting at the other end of the hollow. She ran over to it and hopped up onto the wing. She opened one of the containers of ammunition and found her scope sitting there just like Fox had said when they were at the Cloudrunners.

The thought of Fox suddenly made Bella feel homesick. Fox, Krystal, Peppy, even Falco and Slippy. She wondered what they were doing, wandering space, sitting on board the Great Fox, maybe they had even returned to Corneria for a little while. She thought about her whole life, living on Corneria, the vow she had made to herself when she was twelve, watching Fox make plans for her own Arwing. Peppy, whenever she felt alone, Krystal when she had gotten her staff from the blue vixen. Even Falco and the fights they had gotten in together. A tear stung at her eye but she wiped it away.

"Bella!"

She jumped, jerked back into the real world, "Yeah, I'm fine," she called.

"What are you doing?"

Bella finished screwing the scope on, "I'm gonna see if my sniper actually works," she raised it onto her shoulder and put her eye up to the scope, when she was sure she had it centered, she fired.

"Where'd it hit?"

"Center! Nice!"

Bella hopped off the wing of the plane and headed back to where they had been. He wasn't there. Bella sat down on a rock and waited for the lupine to return. He reappeared later from the cave holding one of the pods Bella had collected.

"These are really good," he said around a mouthful.

Jared sat down next to her, "Where do you live?"

"Well, I was born on Corneria and lived there for the first seven years of my life. Then I moved onto the Great Fox with the rest of the team. So I guess you could say I'm from everywhere."

"How do you like it?"

"It's really fun; we're always flying around, though we do visit Corneria constantly. We have a small rec room and armory where we can do target practice. Falco and me have even gotten on a few fights there. Heh, I miss it so much. How 'bout you? Where do you live?"

"Oh boy, there isn't much to say about where I live. My father runs a criminal hideout in the middle of space, we're practically isolated, so I never really do much besides fly around if I'm needed for a patrol or something. Always being the youngest one there I'm constantly being picked on. Most of the time, they get drunk then come and beat the crap out of me which makes it ten times worse."

"Oh my, that's horrible," Bella exclaimed, "doesn't your father do anything about it?"

Jared shook his head, "No, I think he enjoys the sight of me laying there, suffering."

"But don't you have a gun?"

"Yeah, but one always comes up behind me and takes it away before I have the chance to do anything. Then they all come in and have their share. I don't know why, but I'm afraid that one of them is Wolf. One time they had left me on the floor, I could feel myself bleeding in several places. I looked up and saw him, I couldn't read his expression, it was too blurry, but I could tell he felt absolutely no pity for me."

"That's terrible," she whispered and leaned on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm just so glad I got away."

Bella looked at the sky, the stars were out now and she could see the full moon traveling ever so slowly across the sky. She stood up and stretched out her cold limbs.

"It's getting late, I'm gonna go to bed," she said as she picked up her guns and staff.

"Alright," Jared stood up next to her.

They walked to the cave together and set their weapons down. Jared took some wood and kindling and set them don in the center. He then went to his bag and took out an old lighter. He eventually got it lit.

"There you go, I'll wake you up when it's your turn," Jared said.

"Thanks."

Jared smiled and walked out of the cave, Bella watched him go when she realized something.

Jared had smiled for the first time.


	15. Chapter 15: Flights and Falls

A/N- Oh no! I'm almost done with this fanfic! DX. I've loved doing it so much! But there will be many more to come, and a possible sequel! O.o PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING

--

Unknown time/ unknown date/ Thorntail Hollow

"Bella? Bella?" a soft voice whispered.

"Bella, wake up."

"Go away," Bella muttered, it felt too early for Jared to be waking her up.

"BELLA!" he bellowed in her ear.

"What!?" Bella shouted, opening her eyes and looking up. Jared was standing over her, his green eyes glazed with terror.

"They know - they know we're here!"

Bella, instantly awake, stumbled up almost too quickly and staggered around the cave a little before heading to her weapon pile and picking everything up. When she turned around Jared had left. She ran out and crouched down behind a large boulder next to Jared.

"Okay," Bella said while pulling out her pistol, "where are they?"

"Back there," Jared replied, gesturing with his paw. Bella poked around the rock to see what was going on.

It was the Elites. The last time Bella had seen them there had been about eight, this time there had to be at least twenty-five.

"So," she muttered, "got any brilliant ideas?"

"No, I'm still working on it," he snarled, pushing new clips up into his pistols.

Bella thought for a moment. "Stay here," she instructed him, "I'm going to go around so we can take them out from both directions."

"Okay, but how will you get around? They're bound to see you."

"I have my ways," Bella responded and camouflaged herself.

"What the… Bella, where'd you go?"

Bella reappeared, realizing she hadn't told Jared everything. "It's okay," she explained, "the Lightfoot taught it to me."

Jared still looked confused. "Uh… okay," he said at last.

Bella nodded and looked back behind the boulder. Before she had the chance to camouflage herself, Jared grabbed her paw, yanked her back and locked his muzzle with hers. Bella's first reaction was to pull away, but something kept her in place. At last, Bella closed her eyes, dropped her gun and wrapped her arms around her neck, returning the kiss. She tensed, but then relaxed as she felt Jared work his paws from her cheeks into her head. There was an edge to his touch, as though he was afraid something bad would happen.

He twined his fingers in her hair and tightened his grip, pushing her face closer to his until he could feel the breath from his nose on her face. Then Bella decided to try something, she wrapped her tail around his waist and began gently stroking his thigh. Jared stiffened and growled inwardly but continued passionately kissing her. Bella felt him let go of her hair with one of his paws and slowly worked it down her back until he was lightly tugging on the bottom of her vest. Bella unlocked her arms from around the lupine's neck and let her vest fall to the ground. She let him continue exploring her body until he found the zipper to her jumpsuit. He slowly began unzipping it, when it was fully done. He grabbed her shoulders and began pulling it off. When he had it about halfway down, Bella stomped on his foot to let him know that was enough.

Then it was her turn. As Jared let go of her, Bella grabbed his large jacket and pulled it off. When she wrapped her arms back around him, she realized that he had a zipper on his shirt. She fumbled for a grip on it until Jared grabbed her paw and let her shaking lighten up. When she had finally controlled herself, Bella began steadily unzipping it. When it was done, Jared shrugged it off, revealing his muscular torso. She slid her paws up his chest, letting the fur slide through her fingers and wrapped her arms around his neck. The wolf returned one of his paws into her hair and wrapped his other arm around the middle of Bella's back, which was now bare and tucked her in. Their embrace was so tight, Bella thought she might suffocate and die.

Bella wasn't sure how long it had lasted, minutes, hours, even days, but Jared suddenly unlocked his muzzle with Bella's and looked into her eyes.

At first, Bella was lost in the soft green depths of Jared's soft green gaze.

Then she was furious.

"I can't believe you did that!" she yelled, "That was so stupid, an- and retarded..."

She continued to protest and try to break Jared's grip, but it was to strong for her.

"You're such a jerk!" she continued, "And kissing me like that was so… so…" she paused when she saw his expression.

"Absolutely wonderful," she whispered and rested her head on his warm chest, listening to his soft heartbeat.

"Good," he said, letting her go, "now we have work to do."

Bella didn't say anything; she just pulled her jumpsuit back up, feeling slightly embarrassed and zipped it back up and pulled her vest back on and strapping her rifle and staff to her back. She was about to run back out when Jared stopped her again.

"What do you want," Bella growled.

"You forgot this," he murmured, holding up her pistol.

"Thanks," she muttered and shoved it back into her holster before camouflaging and running back out behind the boulder. Though she had been gone from the cover of the rock, she still felt the green eyes of the wolf piercing her invisible body.

Bella quickly and silently made it to the other side of the "camp" and slid behind a boulder. She pulled off her rifle and looked behind the rock.

There were a lot more Elites from this perspective than the other one. She quickly grabbed her scope, which sat in the holster with her blaster and began screwing on as fast as she could. Her paws were trembling so much she found it difficult.

Suddenly, there was a gunshot from Jared's direction and one of the Elites screeched and fell to the ground. Bella finished screwing the scope on and raised it to shoot when she heard a voice.

"See! I told you this is where they're camped."

Bella almost dropped the gun. She and Jared had been watched this whole time! She raised the rifle, took aim and fired. The bullet tore through the air and struck one right in the side of the head. It gave out an ear piercing screech and fell to the ground. Almost immediately, there was another shot from Jared's direction and another fell. Bella shot again and hit one in the neck. It fell with a choked gurgling sound that was cut short as it went limp.

Four down, Bella thought, so far this is going as planned.

Her thoughts instantly disappeared as three pulled away from the group and began creeping in her direction. Bella set down the rifle and pulled out her pistol.

Her adrenaline was pumping now, Bella fought to keep her paw steady and fired. The one in the center fell, but the other two continued on her. She fired twice, hitting the other two in the face. She was about to run back to the rock when a huge weight crashed into her. She yelped as pain shot up the left side of her body as she crashed into the ground, the Elite holding her down. Bella had to use her paws to grab its head and avoid the slavering jaws. Mustering all the strength she could, Bella shoved it to the side, causing it to fall off her and go rolling across the ground. Bella stood up and lept onto its back, causing to fall down again. She wrapped one arm around its neck and pressed her pistol up to its head. She was about to pull the trigger when she was on top of another shape. She gasped and let go when she realized it was her father, Fox McCloud.

"Bella," he said as he stood up, his voice even sounded a little hurt, "You wouldn't kill me would you?"

Bella backed up a little, "Yo- You're not Fox," she stammered. She knew he wasn't real, but part of her wanted to believe it was.

He laughed softly, "Of course I am, what would make you think I'm not?"

Bella's throat had gone dry, she tried to say something, but it was so cracked she couldn't even understand what she was even saying.

Fox laughed again, "You've been through a lot haven't you," he said gently and opened his arms, "Come here."

Bella gave up in trying to convince herself that this wasn't the real Fox. She tried choking back a sob, but it came out as a thin, wailing cry as she collapsed into Fox's arms.

"It's okay," he whispered, "I'm here now."

As he said it, Bella felt her blood run cold, she tried to escape his grip, but he wouldn't let go.

"You thought you could get away, couldn't you?" Fox sneered; his voice had a strange, metallic edge to it.

Bella gasped for air, she was shivering now and she could feel herself losing consciousness. Just when she thought she would pass out, she heard a gunshot from what seemed like miles away. Fox let go of her and staggered backwards. Bella watched in horror as he transformed back into his true form and stop moving.

Bella's legs couldn't support her weight any longer. She collapsed onto the hard ground and began to sob. She felt something grab the collar of her shirt and begin dragging her; hot, moist breath running down her back. She didn't struggle though, she was going to die anyway and Jared was probably dead as well. Their plan had failed; Sauria was going to be destroyed.

Whatever was dragging her stopped and dropped Bella's shirt. She opened her eyes up to a crack and looked around.

"What should we do with her?" a male voice asked from behind her.

"Nothing yet," another replied, "Remember, we need to wait."

Wait for what?

"What about the other one? He didn't react as much to the illusion."

Jared…

"Go get him anyway."

Bella stifled a small sigh of relief, He's not dead…

A strange silence fell over the hollow again. Bella felt the small vibrations course through the ground as something walked up behind her.

"Shall I?" a new voice said.

Bella saw through the narrow slits of her eyes the Elite in front of her shrug, "Sure, she's unconscious anyways, it won't make a difference."

Bella felt something grab her paws and fasten them behind her back, followed by her feet. She would have fought back, but she would easily lose and have a greater chance of dying. She lay still and continued to pretend to be unconscious as she was hauled further and propped up against a rock. Not long after, she heard more footsteps and felt another body pushed up next to her.

"Bella?" a familiar male voice said.

"Jared," she whispered, "I thought you were dead."

"Me too."

Bella looked up at him, this wasn't the Jared she had known and loved. This one looked so much more small and defeated.

"Do you think you can still fight?"

Bella shook her head, "I- I don't think so," she admitted.

"Untie my paws."

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Bella reached her paws behind his back and worked at the knots that held his paws together. Soon, his paws were untied.

"Now pretend to be unconscious," Jared instructed her, "I have a plan."

Bella let her head loll to the side and closed her eyes. She heard Jared shift in his spot and give a small moan as if he was just waking up. Bella opened her eyes to narrow slits and saw on of the Elites walk up to Jared and shove his muzzle into the lupines, "Well, looks like he's waking up," he hissed.

There was a swift movement from Jared and a screech of pain from the Elite in front of Jared as it was punched in the face. Jared pulled out a small knife and cut the ropes tying his feet together. He took out one of his pistols and shot the Elite that was still lying on the ground. A large object knocked Bella over and a sharp object met her throat. Her eyes flew open to see two more cornering Jared and the other was standing right above her, claws at her neck.

"Stop!" he barked, "or I'll kill her!"

Jared looked around, not sure what to do. Bella struggled to keep her breathing steady, knowing that the wrong move would cost her Jared's life and her own. Jared set the gun down and put his arms up.

"Okay," he said, "you win."

Bella heard the Elite standing above her growl with satisfaction and his claws loosened their grip on her neck, "Good," his voice rumbled deep in his chest. "Good to see you've had some sense knocked into you."

Bella lifted her head up and gaped at Jared. He couldn't just surrender like that. Suddenly, in one fluid movement, he grabbed something from his belt and threw it. A split second later, the Elite standing over Bella collapsed. She looked up and saw the handle of a knife protruding from its chest. She rolled herself to the side to avoid the blood pouring from the wound. Bella rolled herself back onto her stomach and pushed herself up onto her knees. Jared was still standing up against the rock, pistol in his paw. Even if he shot one, the other would attack him.

Then he pulled a stupid move.

Jared shot one and just as he did it, the other launched itself at the wolf, bowling him over. They struggled briefly, Jared baring his teeth back in a vicious snarl. He tossed the Elite off him and jumped on its back. The creature tried standing back up but Jared's weight kept it down. He wrapped his arm around the Elite's neck and pulled in on its throat. The Elite let out a gurgling cry then went limp. Jared stood up and walked over to Bella.

"Don't ever do that again," Bella scolded. "Next time I'm helping you."

Jared only grunted in reply and untied her paws and feet, "I had it all under control anyway."

"I'm sure you did," Bella replied and stood up, "I'm just glad you're safe." She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest, which was covered in sweat, but she didn't care, "I love you, Jared."

He wrapped his arms around her back, "I love you, too."

"Aw… isn't that sweet?"

Bella let go of Jared and spun around to see two more shapes walking towards her. As she looked closer, Bella realized that they were a Cloudrunner and an Earthwalker.

"So it was you," Bella remarked, "why am I not surprised?"

"Wait, you know these two?" Jared asked.

Bella flicked her tail, "Only too much."

Jared pulled out his other pistol and pointed it at the Earthwalker.

The king chuckled, "I wouldn't do that, it won't do anything."

The wolf didn't appear to be listening; he fired a bullet from the gun. Just as the Earthwalker had said, it didn't do anything, not even leave a mark.

"See, I told you," he scoffed.

There was a flash of light and Jared and Bella looked up to see a comet streaking across the sky. The Earthwalker and Cloudrunner exchanged nervous glances and Jared smiled smugly.

"The shooting star!" the Cloudrunner exclaimed, "now is the time!"

Jared shoved the gun back into its holster, yelled in what seemed like triumph and ran towards the Earthwalker, jumping on his back. The king roared in anger and began trying to shake the lupine off. Bella looked back at the Cloudrunner, her eyes flaring with hatred.

"Looks like it's just you and me now," she hissed, "say goodbye!" she yelled and launched herself at Bella.

"Only after you!" she quickly retorted and ducked to avoid the Cloudrunner's sharp beak. Bella stood back up and pulled her staff out, "I don't know about you," she continued, "but I'm looking forward to this." She ran forward and swung at the queen, but she was ready, the queen jumped up and hovered over Bella. She immediately swung upward, but the Cloudrunner was ready again.

"Oh, yes," she snarled, "I am looking forward to this." Bella had to dive to the side as the Cloudrunner flew down.

Bella back up a little and tossed the staff to the side, "Come on!" she taunted, "Give me your best shot."

The queen gave a cry of annoyance and flew forward, keeping her body close to the ground. Bella was ready, she stepped to the side, grabbing the Cloudrunner's neck and swung her legs around so she was on the queen's back.

The Cloudrunner let out a bone-chilling cry and began to fly up. Bella gripped the heaving side with her knees and wrapped her arms around the long neck so she wouldn't fall off and injure herself.

Once Bella and the Cloudrunner had climbed high enough and the attempts to shake Bella off were beginning to slacken, she shifted her weight further back, grabbed the queen's wings and pulled them in to her body. The queen cried out as she began tumbling towards the surface of the planet. At the last second, Bella let go and jumped off the back and rolled on the impact. She stood back up and saw her staff lying several feet away. She picked it up and looked at the Cloudrunner, who was staggering up from where she lay. Almost immediately, the queen charged towards Bella. Taking immediate action, Bella stepped to the side and pushed the blade of her staff out. The Cloudrunner shrieked in pain and stopped, facing Bella, a strange silver glow emitting from her body.

"You're not done yet," she rasped and collapsed, vanishing in a cloud of shining mist. Bella only stood there, the Cloudrunner was right. She spun around and saw the Earthwalker and Jared. The wolf was struggling to keep a grip on the king's neck and feeling along his belt with another, which looked broken. She watched as Jared pulled out his knife and raised it, but as he made contacted with the Earthwalker's neck, he yelped in pain and let go, holding his injured arm in his good one. The king raised himself up onto his hind legs. Jared scrabbled for a grip on the Earthwalker, but it was too late. He slid off his back and landed on the ground with a sickening thud.

"No!" Bella screamed and ran forward. As she did so, she looked down to see that her staff had shrunk down so she could throw it. Bella raised the staff and threw it as hard as she could. The blade struck the Earthwalker in the side and he roared in pain and collapsed gasping and trembling. Bella slowed her pace and stopped in front of the Earthwalker. She looked to the side and saw Jared's knife. She bent down and picked it up and looked back at the monarch.

"What's the matter?" he taunted. "Too cowardly to take a life?"

That did it, Bella yanked her staff out of the Earthwalker's side and stabbed him in the neck. He roared in pain, and to Bella's surprise, stood up.

"Tell me this," he rasped. "Did you really expect to make it out alive?"

Bella was about to reply when he lunged forward and slashed through her chest with one of his spikes. She dropped the staff and staggered backwards, tripping over a jutting rock. She yelped in pain as she landed on both her right arm and leg at the wrong angle. Bella managed to push herself onto her stomach and back up through a great amount of pain. Soon, she felt a warm wetness dipping down her chest. The king was standing above her staff, a foot raised. It stomped down and there was a snapping noise.

"No," Bella gasped and everything went black.

13 Years ago

"Come on, daddy! Tell me another story!" a small vixen complained.

"I'm sorry, honey, but me and mommy have to go now," An older one tried to reassure her.

"But… I want another story," Bella loved the stories her father would tell her. They were always exiting and full of adventure.

"I know," her father said, "but when I get back, I'll tell you some more, I promise."

The little girl's eyes lit up, "Really? Okay," she said while hopping off of Fox's legs.

As Bella was walking to her room, the door bell rang. Her mother, Krystal who was wearing a slim black dress and shining gold tail bands answered the door. A tall, young black wolf walked in.

"Samantha!" Bella shrieked and ran forwards to greet her.

"Bella!" the wolf responded picking her up, "How are you?"

"I'm good," Bella said, "how are you?"

"I'm good too, what do you want to do today?"

Bella thought for a moment, "Uh… can we go to the park?"

Samantha laughed, "Of course we can."

"Thanks," Fox said, "We'll be back in a couple hours."

Samantha set Bella down, "Bye daddy," she said and hugged him.

Fox laughed, "Bye Bella," he replied, "say good bye to mom now."

Obediently, Bella let go of her father and wrapped her arms around her mother, "Bye mommy."

"Bye honey."

Bella waved one more goodbye as Fox and Krystal walked out the door and closed it behind them.

"Okay, Bella," Samantha said, "go grab a jacket and we'll go."

Bella ran down the hallway and into her room. She grabbed her thin, dark blue jacket and ran to Samantha. As she reached for the door, her paw on the handle, she heard loud banging noises from outside.

"BELLA!" Samantha yelled, but she didn't seem to hear, Bella was frozen on the spot. The wolf came up behind her and took Bella behind the couch, where she cried for several minutes, more out fear than anything. She sniffed and lifted her head up and looked around, her vision blurry.

"What happened?" she whimpered.

Samantha held her in closer. "I don't know. Let's go and see if it's safe."

Bella nodded and stood up, stumbling around for a little, but Samantha caught her and helped her keep her balance. Bella pulled away and inched to the door, something was wrong, terribly wrong. She could hear the anxious murmuring of people outside. She took the door and pushed it open.

Bella was overtaken by a wave of nausea. Through the crowd of people that had gathered, she could see two figures lying on the concrete. For a moment, she forgot to breathe.

"NO!" Bella shrieked and sprinted forward, pushing people, and even a couple police officers to the side to kneel at her parent's side. Through the tears welling up in her eyes, Bella could see that her mother and father had been injured in some sort of way; she could see the redness of the blood seeping through their clothes.

A firm hand grabbed Bella and began pulling her away, "C'mon, kid, you can't be here."

Bella screamed in protest and tried to break the man's grip.

"It's okay," she heard Samantha say, "they're her parents."

"How do you know?"

"I babysit for them."

The hand reluctantly let go of Bella and let her run back to her parents…

5 years ago…

Bella looked up from the book she was reading when the doorbell rang and watched as Fox walk over to the door and open it up.

"G-general Pepper?" Fox stammered and saluted, "Why are you here? I would've come to the base if you wanted me to."

Pepper shook his head, "I know, but I need to speak to you… in private."

Fox nodded, "Yes, of course. Right this way."

When Fox had lead the general out of the room, Bella quietly closed her book, keeping her finger in her spot and walked towards her room. As she passed Fox's office, she heard the anxious murmuring of Fox and the General. Bella looked around then pressed her ear up to the door.

"I don't know if I can," Fox was saying, "Bella's birthday is only several days away and I don't want her to do what I did at her age."

"I know how you feel captain, but you're one of the most experienced pilots on Corneria and your leadership skills are great, which is why I feel that you are the best choice to lead this expedition."

Fox sighed, "Yes, sir. When do I leave and what is the estimated length of the mission?"

"You'll leave tomorrow and it will take about two weeks."

Bella couldn't take much more, she pulled her ear away from the door and ran into her room, throwing her book across the room. Fox couldn't just abandon her. Her birthday was only three days away and her father had promised her he wouldn't miss her birthday this year since her had missed her last one. Before Bella knew it, she was trembling. Bella tossed herself onto her bed and buried her face in her paws and began sobbing.

Bella stopped when she heard a door open. She took a couple deep breaths and watched as the general walk out, followed more slowly by Fox. Bella cringed as he stopped at her door, hoping he didn't see her. Thankfully, he hadn't, but as Bella watched she saw one tear drip out of his eye and fall onto the floor.

"What'd the general want?" she heard Krystal ask from the living room.

"He wants me to lead an expedition to Zoness, which means I'm going to miss Bella's birthday, again."

"Oh man…"

"I'm gonna go talk to her."

"Do you want me to come too?"

"No, I need to do this alone."

A few seconds later, the door to Bella's room open and Fox walked in.

"Hi, Bella," he said, "Can we talk?"

Bella nodded and slid over on her bed to make room for him. He stepped forward and sat down next to her, "I don't know how I'm gonna tell you this, but-"

Bella cut him off, "Do you have to go?"

He sighed, "Yes, I do, I'm sorry."

She looked away, "But you promised," she whispered.

"I know I did, but this is unavoidable and I have to do it."

Bella nodded.

"It's okay," his voice was gentle. Fox lifted her head up so she was looking into his green eyes. He grabbed her paw and placed a small box wrapped in paper in it. Fox slid his paw through her hair and kissed her lightly on the forehead, "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

Once Fox had left, Bella carefully un-wrapped the box and opened it up. Inside was a necklace. The gold chain looked recently cleaned and polished. On the end was a thick band of gold in the shape of a teardrop. In the center was an aqua colored stone the shone in the light. Bella looked back in the box and pulled out a folded a piece of paper. She slowly un-folded it and stared at the picture. It was a simple picture of the Starfox team, she had several different ones, but this one seemed to stand out to her. Two Arwings stood on the side, their noses pointed inward so one could see the side as well as the front. Falco and Krystal were standing next to them. In the back there was a Landmaster that Slippy stood next to. In the front was Fox, holding a plasma beam sniper rifle across the back of his neck in one paw, a blaster held at his side in the other, his head held high.

Bella wiped her tears away turned the paper over, the unmistakable handwriting of Fox on it.

The necklace belonged to your mother, take good care of it.

Bella set the paper on her desk and lay down, everything was going to be fine.

--

Bella's eyes flew open, she opened her mouth to take a breath, but it wouldn't come. She scrabbled at the rocks around her as she gasped for air, but still, it wouldn't enter her lungs. She began growing dizzy and her vision began to blur.

The pain only lasted for a second…

And then… Peace.

--

Jared's P.O.V

Jared slowly opened his eyes; pain was covering every inch of his body. Thinking back, the last thing he could remember was sliding off the Earthwalker's back. He tried standing up, at first, it hurt, he collapsed onto the ground again, tears stinging at his eyes, and tried again. He was able to hold his position longer, but eventually got to much for him to handle. Jared fell back onto the ground and stayed there. He lifted his head up and looked around. He kept checking the area until he found a flash of gold. He dragged himself over to it and found Bella's staff, snapped clean in two. Tears filled his eyes again as he remembered how swiftly and gracefully she had moved with it.

He raised his head and looked around. The hollow was quiet, almost too quiet. Jared expected something to jump out at him at the most unexpected point in time. He looked up and saw the trees and cliffs outlined against the lightening sky. As he looked back down he saw plants and trees growing back at incredible speeds. The river was also beginning to fill back up with water. He pulled himself over to it and took several long drinks from the clean water. He sighed and rested his head on a patch of new grass. His body still hurt, but, for once, he felt too weak to cry, his strength was gone. He was beginning to drift off when he remembered Bella. What had happened to her? The lupine lifted his head up and looked around, at first, he couldn't see her, but then he saw her, lying about thirty feet away from he lay. He pulled himself over to her, doing his best to use his legs to push his body. When Jared got over to her, he was over taken by nausea.

She was not what Jared had known her as, that was for sure. Blood covered the front of her shirt. Both of her arms and one of her legs looked broken. Reluctantly, Jared reached out with his paw and shook her as gently as he could. She didn't react, so he tried a little harder.

"Bella? Bella, please wake up," he whispered.

She still didn't respond, but at last, her eyes fluttered and she opened them, but they were still clouded over with pain and confusion.

"Who are you?" she whimpered.

"Bella," he whispered, "It's me, Jared."

She raised her arm in an obvious attempt to push him away, but she didn't have the strength, "No you're not."

Jared caught her paw and held onto it tightly, "Yes, yes it is."

She looked up at him and Jared thought he could see a flicker of realization in her eyes, "Jared?"

He nodded.

"It hurts," she whimpered.

"I know," Jared said, trying to comfort her, "it'll pass soon."

She shook her head, "No it won't."

"Yes it will, please, Bella, just hold on."

Suddenly, Bella's gaze fixed past him, something she could only see, "James? Is that you?"

Jared looked behind him, but there was no one there, "No!" he yelled, "Bella, please don't go!"

She sighed and closed her eyes, not moving again.

The fallen warrior.

"No… No, Bella, no!" Jared cried, "Bella please don't do this to me!"

He didn't want to be near her anymore. Jared began pulling himself away from Bella, sobbing. Before he got far, he collapsed.

I'm sorry, sweet Bella, you will be avenged.

--

"Please, Krystal, I know something bad has happened I know it!"

Krystal looked up at Fox from where she sat on their bed, "I know Fox," she responded, "but remember, we can't interfere with her."

Fox leaned forward until he was eye level with the vixen, "No, that's where you're wrong; it's not interfering, and remember, she contacted us."

"Yeah, I know, but she shouldn't have, I know that. You should know it as well."

Fox stood back up, slightly taken aback, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

A sharp knocking at the door interrupted him. Krystal sighed and closed her eyes, "It's Peppy," she whispered. "Go ahead."

"Come in Peppy," Fox called.

"Hi Fox, Krystal," the old hare said as he opened the door, giving each a curt nod, "How are you?"

"Not so great," Fox muttered.

"I know you're worried about Bella," Peppy said, "but in a situation like this, the best you can do is wait and hope for the best."

"I wish I could believe you."

Peppy shook his head, "I also just finished talking to Bill. He says it's been forever since the two of you ever got together. So he wants to hang out with you soon."

Fox grumbled to himself, "Oh great, what am I supposed to say? 'Sorry Bill, I would love to hang out, but I can't. Why you ask? Well… my daughter's away doing some solo mission on Sauria and I'm too busy over here biting my fingernails off'!?"

Peppy sighed, "He's your best friend, Fox, I'm sure he'll understand."

"Okay, thanks Pep, I'll talk to him soon."

Peppy turned on his heel and walked out, closing the door quietly behind him. Fox turned around and jumped back when he came face to face with Krystal, a terrified expression crossing her face.

"She's alive," she whispered, "but it may not be for much longer."


	16. Chapter 16: Keeper of a Life

A/N: Hello… yeah… not too much to say here

--

1500 Hours/ 8 September, 2125/ Great Fox

Fox couldn't believe it. Before Krystal had a chance to do anything, he shoved past her and threw the door open.

"Peppy, get some Arwings ready. Krystal, you'll have to fly Bella's Arwing back here. Falco, you're coming, too."

"But… Why?" they both said at the same time.

"That's not important right now. Let's move."

Peppy spun in his chair and went to work while Falco stood up and followed Fox and Krystal as they ran down into the hanger. The falcon quickly jumped into his ship, but Fox stopped at his own, Krystal next to him.

"Come on," she whispered, "It's not that bad," the vixen smiled mischievously while Fox blushed.

"Okay," he muttered, "let's go," he climbed in and Krystal squeezed in next to him.

"Comfortable Fox?" the vulpine heard Falco ask through his headset. Fox looked at the falcon through the glass and grimaced in reply before taking off.

As Fox entered the atmosphere of Sauria, he felt himself naturally flying around Thorntail Hollow. He landed and let Krystal climb out before himself.

At first, the place looked no different. He was beginning to relax when he noticed something lying on the ground near the river.

"No," he gasped and ran forward. As he approached the body, he slid out and looked at his daughter.

He was over come by a wave of nausea. Bella lay on the ground, blood covered the front of her shirt. He reached forward and checked her pulse. At first, he couldn't feel anything, but as he sat and concentrated he began feeling one, extremely weak and thready, but there was one there. Fox gently lifted one of her eyelids, but Bella's eye rolled into the back of her head. The vulpine barely made it up in time to get behind a tree and throw up.

"Hey, Fox, over here!" Falco called.

Fox wiped his muzzle and walked over to where Falco was standing over a body about five yards away from Bella. He knelt down in front of the body, grabbed its shoulders and rolled it onto its back.

He was a wolf. Fox could tell he was about Bella's age. The vulpine placed his paw on the lupine's neck and checked his pulse. Instead of weak, his pulse was thudding so hard Fox thought the artery would burst. The wolf's eyes shot open and, at first, appeared not to know what was going on.

Then he panicked.

The wolf rolled away from Fox and stood up, his eyes wild now. He swaggered on the spot a little bit, then regained his balance. Fox backed up a little so he was next to Falco. The lupine's gaze switched from Fox to the falcon and back again. Then it fixed on something past Fox, the vulpine twisted his head around and saw nothing but Bella and Krystal, who had stopped and was concentrating hard on the wolf.

"Bella!" he yelled suddenly and ran towards her. Fox stopped him in his tracks and began trying to push him back. The wolf was surprisingly strong, especially for how weak he looked. The vulpine gathered all the strength he could and pushed the wolf forward and shoved him into a seated position against a rock.

"Let go of me!" he shouted. "Bella!"

Fox knelt down in front of him while Falco hovered nearby. "Listen to me," he said, keeping his voice as gentle as possible. "What happened?"

The lupine closed his eyes and deepened his breathing. "I'm sorry," he whispered and shook his head slowly, "I can't remember."

Fox smiled. They were making progress, but they still had a way to go. He carefully let go of his shoulders to see what would happen. The wolf opened his eyes, "Are you mad at me?" his voice suddenly much smaller and defeated.

Fox shook his head, "No, of course not. What's your name?"

He closed his eyes tight and thought.

"Don't push yourself too hard," Fox told him.

He opened his eyes again, "Where am I?"

"Your on the planet Sauria," Fox answered then added to Falco, "I need you to go back to the Great Fox and have Peppy contact the medical corps, these two aren't fit to be moved anywhere."

At first, the avian seemed reluctant to go; he was still eyeing the young lupine suspiciously.

"C'mon, Falco," Fox was beginning to get annoyed. "What's he gonna do, he's obviously in shock."

Falco glowered once more at the wolf and twisted around, Fox watched as Falco climbed into the Arwing and took off, starting out almost parallel to the cliffs and leaving a trail of plasma behind him until he was nothing but a glint in the dark cerulean sky.

"Show off," Fox muttered, turning back to the wolf. Fox could see that the color of his face behind the dark grey fur was draining quickly, his eyes were closed and his breathing was quick and shallow again.

"Hey, kid," Fox grabbed the wolf's upper arm and shook him softly, "You there?"

The shaking only caused the lupines head to sink onto his shoulder. Fox lay him down on his back and lifted up his legs.

"Come on! Don't die on me!" Fox shouted as he looked up at the sky, praying that Peppy had contacted Corneria without any problems and that they where on their way.

Several minutes later, Fox could feel the circulation in his legs beginning to be cut short, so he adjusted his position and continued waiting, constantly trying to wake up the wolf. As if luck was on his side, the lupine slid his eyes open again, but they remained heavy. The vulpine sighed in relief and helped him up into a sitting position. He looked up to the sky and caught a glimpse of something reflecting the sun. As they got closer, Fox was barely able to recognize the carrier ships from Corneria.

"Thank you, Peppy," Fox muttered under his breath and stood up, waving his arms. The two carriers landed and the doctors jumped out as soon as they touched the ground. One nurse approached Fox and the wolf, preparing a rather large syringe. The lupine shrunk away from it and looked up at Fox with wide eyes, whimpering once or twice.

Fox knelt down next to him, "Don't worry, helps here. This'll help," he turned to the nurse, "What is it?"

"A painkiller and mild sedative. It should knock him out within seconds."

Fox held onto the wolf shoulder as the cheetah slid the needle into his arm and slowly pressed the plunger down. Before she was even done, the wolf was unconscious; his head drooped on Fox's shoulder.

"Thanks," she said. "You've done enough here."

When Fox stood up, she called for a cot and doctors for help. When he reached Bella, she was swarmed with EMTs. He looked through a crack and saw her, an oxygen mask over her muzzle and a brace around her neck. He thought he caught words such as minor concussion and coma, but he couldn't tell.

He walked around the doctors and found Krystal standing on the outside, her desperate gaze hard to meet. Fox grabbed her paw and she returned the gesture, her claws almost tearing through his hide.

"Everything's going to be fine," he whispered.

"But, look at her," Krystal whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she was carried into the ship on a stretcher. "Look at the condition she's in."

Fox let go of her paw and wrapped his whole arm around her. "Come on, let's get to Corneria as quickly as possible."

She nodded, "Okay."

The two vulpines were walking to their Arwings when Fox heard his name called. He spun around to see a German Shepard walking towards him.

"Yes?"

"You know," he said, "you can come with your daughter aboard the transport if you want to."

The vulpine looked down at Krystal who nodded. "Yes, that would be nice. Can I just have a sec?"

"Yes, of course."

Fox climbed into his Arwing and pulled his headset on to call the Great Fox.

"How is she?" came Peppy's immediate response.

"Not good," Fox said. "Krystal and I are going straight to Corneria with Bella, so you might want to bring our Arwings in, and if Falco's up for it, I need him to find Bella's staff and guns, they weren't with her and I didn't see them."

"Okay… and the wolf?"

"The doctors are waiting."

"Fine."

Fox tossed his headset back onto the floor of the cockpit and jumped out of the jet. He walked up to Krystal and grabbed her paw as they walked to the carriers together. Fox climbed in first, then offered his paw to Krystal and hoisted her in. They sat down together next to Bella, who already had needles and tubes running in and out of her body.

"Who's the wolf?" Fox asked after a long silence.

"His name is Jared O'Donnell," Krystal replied.

"O'Donnell… as in Wolf O'Donnell?"

"Yes."

Fox blinked, "I didn't know Wolf had a son, let alone the fact that I didn't even know he was married."MG2

Krystal nodded, "I was surprised that his thoughts were that clear, especially since he was freaking out over Bella. This might sound crazy, but I think he really likes her, since Bella was unconscious, I couldn't tell."

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too."

Silence fell over the two foxes and Krystal began crying again. Fox switched his paws in hers and wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, now crying as well.

Krystal fell asleep on Fox's shoulder and the vulpine stared out the window blankly, tears still rolling down his face. He rubbed a paw through her hair gently and sighed.

"Captain McCloud?"

Fox sat forward and saw a lynx standing in front of him, "Yes?"

"We'll be approaching Corneria soon, you need to be ready."

Fox nodded and shook Krystal gently, when she opened her eyes, she asked, "What's going on?"

"We'll be on Corneria soon."

She stretched, "Okay."

Fox looked out the window again and watched as the small blue planet grew larger until it took up the entire viewport. There was a loud thudding noise as the ship touched the ground. Fox and Krystal jumped out and flattened their ears against the gusts of wind as they made their way to the waiting ambulance with Bella.

The ride to the hospital was shorter than the ride from Sauria to Corneria, but worry made it seem just as long. The ambulance pulled to a stop in front of the hospital and the doctors pulled Bella out, followed by Fox and Krystal.

--

Fox and Krystal watched desperately from the observation window where Bella was still in the middle of surgery. One of the doctors stepped out of the room and gestured to the vulpine. He walked to him and asked, "What's going on?"

The mouse cleared his throat, "The surgery's going fine, she'll pull through, but… she keeps saying your name," the last part seemed more a question than a statement.

"What have you tried?"

"We've tried drugging her more, but it doesn't do anything. This hasn't happened before, but we need you to come in and stay with her, we think it will help."

Fox looked over at Krystal, who nodded. He looked back at the doctor, "Okay, fine."

"Thank you."

The rodent led Fox to a room where a sink and different boxes were.

"Wash your paws, and take a pair of gloves and a mask."

Fox quickly washed his paws and pulled the gloves on and pulled the mask over his muzzle as he was led back out.

When Fox arrived in the room, he stood next to her and wiped her sweat-dampened hair from her face.

"Fox?" she asked, the word barley audible.

He nodded, tears of joy streaming down his face, "Yes… yes, it's me," he breathed.

Her breathing slowed and her muscles relaxed. The doctors looked up at Fox as if he was a miracle worker. Fox looked up at Krystal who smiled and laughed once. Fox couldn't help but chuckle to himself as well.

The rest passed without flaw. When the doctors where done, they slowly rolled Bella out, while Fox stayed in, until a huge grin covering his face.

"Good bye, Bella," he whispered and ripped the gloves and mask off his face and ran outside, wrapping his arms around Krystal, crying with joy.

"She's gonna be okay," he sobbed, "She really is."

Krystal let go of him and began pulling Fox towards the entrance, "Come on, we've got quite some story to tell."

When they stepped outside, Fox called the Great Fox and had Peppy send Falco over in his Arwing. When he arrived, Fox and Krystal climbed up onto the wings and took off.

When Falco landed in the hanger bay, Fox hopped off the wing of the Arwing and helped Krystal off the other. Fox walked into the main dock and fell onto the couch, his arms spread out and laughing to himself.

"What's the news?" Peppy asked.

"Bella's gonna pull through," he said, still smiling, "she should be awake tomorrow, so we'll go see."

The vulpine looked at his watch, six-thirty; he then realized how hungry he was. Fox stood up and rummaged through the carrier's small kitchen, looking for something small to eat. Before he had even settled on anything, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out and pressed it up to his ear, still looking through the cupboard.

"Hello?"

"Mr. McCloud, this is the city hospital."

Fox stopped abruptly and dropped his paw, immediately fearing the worst, "Yes?"

"Need you to come down to the hospital, we have something we need to tell you about your daughter."

"Can't you just tell me now?" Fox looked over at Krystal, whose face was worried

"I'm sorry Mr. McCloud, but Bella had a strange reaction to the medicine and has slipped into a very heavy coma."

The vulpine sighed, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible, "Okay, I'll be right there."

The call ended and Fox slapped his phone shut. He could feel tears rolling down his face.

"What happened?" Krystal asked.

Fox took another breath and blinked his eyes a few times, "It's Bella," he whispered, then realized that the whole team was watching him, "Not here, come with me."

Krystal, still confused, followed Fox into their room, "What is it?" she asked again.

"The doctors called," he began. "Bella was supposed to be awake by tomorrow, but as they were checking on her…" he trailed off, beginning to grow emotional again, "they concluded that she slipped into a coma."

Krystal sighed. "We don't have time to mourn," she whispered, "let's get down there."

Fox forced a weak smile and grabbed her paw before kissing her softly, "We'll make it through this," she whispered.

The vulpine nodded, his muzzle still brushing the side of her face, "Don't let go."

She tightened her grip on his shoulder, her claws close to ripping his clothes, "I won't."

"Then let's go."

Fox and Krystal walked back onto the main deck and Fox told Peppy the whole story quickly, he started up the systems and began flying towards, the hospital.

"I'll contact General Pepper," he said. "Looks like you and Krystal are going to be spending a lot of time there."

The vulpine thanked him and sat down next to Krystal and waited patiently during the slow, but quick, flight. By the time the main latch unlocked and the door was opening to the hospital, Cornerian fighters were beginning to approach and soldiers began surrounding the giant carrier. Apparently Pepper had agreed.

Fox and Krystal stepped out and walked through the observers into the building.

"Captain McCloud?"

Fox stood up and followed a short vulpine to where several doctors were standing.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Mr. McCloud," one began. "This is a very serious matter and I don't think that it's the greatest-"

The vulpine cut him off, "I just want to see my daughter."

The raccoon looked over at the tiger, who nodded, "Very well, come with us."

Fox and Krystal followed the doctors, his heart slowly sinking as he realized they were being led to the ICU. The tiger opened the door and let Fox and Krystal enter, closing it silently behind them. Fox sat down on one of the flimsy, white plastic chairs next to the bed and looked over her. The brace was still around her neck and tubes were still sticking out of her body. Thankfully, her breathing was slow and steady, a good sign.

With the lightest touch, Fox wiped his daughters hair out of her face, "Oh, Bella," he whispered, "what happened to you."

--

Bella was in the hospital for three months. By the fifth week, she had begun to show signs of waking up, sometimes to the point where it would get dangerous and the doctors had to strap her to the bed to prevent her from falling out. Jared was by her side constantly as well, staying with his mother when he wasn't with her. When the second week came around, she began opening her eyes, but they were glassy and she couldn't keep them open for more than five minutes.

Fox had been sitting with her when Krystal entered the room.

"Fox, you've been in here for almost three days straight. I think you need to go back to the Great Fox and get some rest."

The vulpine looked back at Bella, who was beginning to shift once more in bed, "Okay, fine."

Fox walked to the Great Fox in a trance but was stopped by one of the guards, "ID please?"

The vulpine groaned and pulled his wallet out, flipping it open and revealing his license. The dog nodded and let him pass. Fox trudged through the main dock and into his room, flopping down on the bed. He turned his head to the side and looked at the picture next to the bed. It was taken about three months before Bella was left on Sauria, she was standing on the wing on her newly constructed Arwing while Fox and Krystal were standing next to it. The vulpine never thought he had seen Bella happier. He sighed and closed his eyes.

Several Hours Later…

Fox jerked awake to feel his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He turned over and took it out, blinking several times to clear his vision and read the name.

Krystal.

Immediately fearing the worst, Fox un-flipped the phone and pressed it up to his ear.

"Hello?" he mumbled around the pillow.

At first there was no reply, "Krys?" he asked.

Instead of hearing Krystal, he heard four words, four words from the daughter he had said good bye to for the final time three months earlier.

Four words that made fox drop the phone and roll off the bed with a heavy thud.

Four words barley above a whisper.

"I love you… dad."

* * *

MG1This may sound better.

MG2Doesn't seem the type, does he? J


	17. Chapter 17: Welcome Home

A/N: Finally

A/N: Finally! Bella's alive!!

--

Unknown

A steady beeping roused Bella, her eyes still half closed, she twisted her head to the side and pulled it back, the pain that shot up her back and into her head made her dizzy.

"Ouch," she gargled, her voice dry and cracked.

Even blinking was hard, she opened and closed them several times to clear her vision. Using only her eyes, Bella scanned the room.

It was dim, the lights were shut off, but dim sunlight was trying to creep through the blinds. The sheets on her bed were white, sanitary, and rails stood on the sides of her bed, standing sentry like, firm and protective.

With the slowest movements, Bella twisted her head to the side and saw machines and monitors measuring her heartbeat and brain pressure. She turned to the other side and saw her bedside table. On it was a large bouquet of flowers, and around it, were several pictures.

"Who died?" she muttered to herself and laughed weakly, "Oh… right."

Bella looked over the pictures and forced a smile, recalling all the moments. The first was taken when she was fifteen on Fox's birthday, she had jumped on his back and stayed there until he couldn't take her on any more. The picture was Bella on Fox's back, he was hunched over, though he still looked happy. The second picture was one of Bella and Krystal the day she had received her mother's staff. The third was one of Bella as a toddler, sitting in the cockpit of an Arwing with Fox, she was so exited she messed up the systems and it took even Slippy several days to fix it. The picture in the middle was her most recent picture, she was pretty sure it was her first picture as an official member of the Starfox team, two Arwings were on the sides, Falco leaning against his and Krystal sitting on the wing of another. Slippy was standing on the top of a Landmaster tank while Fox and Bella were in the front, standing back to back, Bella holding her staff and a blaster, While Fox held a large Demon Sniper. She tried raising a paw to wipe it over the frame, but she found that it was held in place by a firm restraint.

Bella sighed and relaxed her muscles, causing her to sink down into the bed. She whimpered again as unpleasant pain shot up her back again.

"Darn it," she muttered, "Where's the pain killer when I need it?"

Careful not to cause herself anymore pain, Bella carefully looked up to see that her IV drip was almost drained empty.

"I thought these people were supposed to be on top of their game," she said to herself again, "Stupid doct-"

She was cut off as the door slid open and a husky walked in. She looked up from her clip board and smiled, showing a row of sharp white teeth.

"How long have you been awake?" she asked.

"Just now," she muttered.

"Good, so, not to much pain for you?" she asked as she filled the bag up with more pain killer.

"Will that make me fall back to sleep?" Bella asked as her eyelids drooped.

"No, this stuffs mild, it'll just make you drowsy."

The vixen cracked a smile and sighed in relief as the nurse removed the restraints from the bed. When the dog had finished collecting the information she turned and walked out of the room. Bella experimentally lifted up one of her arms and was, thankfully able to do it without mush pain. She moved it up and gingerly touched her head, which was swathed in more bandages.

The husky walked out of the room, still scribbling stuff down on her clipboard. "I'll be right back," she said and closed the door behind her quietly.

"Wait?"

She turned back around, "Yes?"

"Did you get someone else here, uh... Jared O'Donnell?"

"Hm? Oh yes, he's fine, he's is rehab from the beating he took down there," she spun around again, walking out the door

Bella sighed and rested her head back on the pillow. She didn't like it though; it was too hard and lumpy. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but she was interrupted as she door swung open again and she heard the voice of the husky, "I'll give you guys some time alone."

"What the…" Bella began but she stopped as she recognized the two shapes, one shorter and slender, the other taller and well built.

"Bella!" Krystal cried and rushed forward, crying with joy at the sight of her daughter, alive.

"Krystal… Krystal. It's alright," Bella tried comforting her mother, but the small blue vixen continued to cry.

"But look at you," she whimpered, "Look at the condition you're in."

Bella tried not to roll her eyes, "I'm fine, trust me, it's not like I'm stuck like this forever."

Krystal sighed and buried her face in her paws, Bella couldn't help but roll her eyes again. She looked to the side at the pictures again but was jerked back into reality when she heard a male voice say something.

"Welcome home."

Bella jerked her head back to the side and saw Fox standing behind Krystal. Bella gasped for breath, she hadn't seen her father in so long, she hadn't seen him or heard his voice in so long.

"Fox!" the vixen cried and began to sob.

He knelt down in front of her and stroked the fur on her face gently, "Sh… sh sh sh sh sh. It's okay," the vulpine whispered, "It's okay, I'm here now."

Bella opened her eyes and looked into Fox's eyes, these weren't the blank, colorless, sad eyes she had seen before. These were the green, soft, gentle eyes of Fox McCloud. She sat up in her bed and wrapped her arms around him. She didn't care about the pain in her back as she twisted around and Fox wrapped his arms gently around her.

The door clicked and a Katinian accent asked from the back of the room, "Uh… is this a bad time? I can come back later."

Fox looked around and answered, "Oh no, it's okay, Bill, come in."

The door opened up wider and a small, dark grey hound walked in quietly. Bella recognized him from somewhere, but she couldn't remember.

"This is Bill Grey," Fox explained, "He works with the military on Katina. You met him when you were little, but you probably don't remember."

Bella nodded.

"So this is the young Bella," Bill said, "Fox can't stop talking about you… especially now."

Bella shrugged, "Yeah, that's me."

"Hm… well, it was nice meeting you."

The door opened and the husky poked her head in, "I'm sorry," she said, "But I'm gonna have to ask you to leave now."

Fox nodded, "Okay," he stood up and walked out while Krystal finally decided on gently kissing Bella on the forehead because of the lack of room for a hug and followed Bella's father out. When the door closed, there was a slight pause and then she heard Fox's voice.

"I'm sorry, I think I forgot something," she heard him say, "Can I go and get it please."

"Yes, of course," the nurse replied and opened the door. Bella heard the door close again, and even though her eyes were closed, heard Fox sit down next to her. She felt him rub a gently through her hair and his paws slowly worked under her body until he was lifting her up against his chest. The vixen felt something small and wet land on her shoulder. When she felt his shoulders shaking, Bella realized Fox was crying. A lump built up in her throat, but she held it down.

The vulpine gently lay Bella back down and he held onto her paw tightly.

"Sleep well," he whispered.

--

Darn it! Short chapter again. Sorry about the lack of updating. School sucks. Oh well, only a few more chapters then you'll be able to find out what happens in Falco's little story.


	18. Chapter 18: When the Sand Runs Out

A/N- K… Here we go.

--

1400 hours/ Unknown Date/ Corneria City hospital

When Bella opened her eyes the next morning, she could hear rain pouring on the window outside. The room was dark and the only light was the dim glow provided by the machines next to the cot.

"Well, it's about time you woke up."

She turned her head to the side and gasped. The heart monitor went crazy. Jared sat on one side of her bed. He wore a black leather jacket that reflected small droplets of water as if he had just come in from walking in the rain and reflected the dim light of the room, tossing small rainbows in every which direction. He was donned with clean dark blue jeans and he was leaned back in a white chair with his arms folded across his chest, and there were several stitches above his left eye.

"Jared?!" She exclaimed, "But… wait, why am I freaking out, I know you're here. Ugh." The vixen slouched back into the bed, pressing her head into a paw.

"Don't push yourself to hard," he said leaning forward, "You've been asleep for thirteen hours."

"Oh," the vixen looked at his face and pointed at the stitches, "How many?"

The wolf ran a finger over the strings and grinned, showing his sharp teeth, "Fifteen. You like them?"

She nodded.

"I have forty-two on my shoulder, wanna see them?"

"I'll pass. What's the date today?"

"January eleventh, why?"

"Why do you think? It's been almost five months since I showed up on Sauria."

"Well, they brought you back in November which makes only two. You were in a coma for three months."

Bella traced patterns over the white sheets of her cot, "Oh… I was?" she looked up at the lupine's face, which was suddenly alarmed, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Listen," Jared lowered his voice as he leaned in so his face was inches from Bella's, "Wolf came by while you were still in your coma and talked to me."

"Was it alright."

"No. He was _pissed_. One, because I left him out on Sargasso, two, you were here and that I had met you."

"Well, why'd you tell him?"

"I didn't say anything," Jared put his arms up like he had when she had first met him, "He also came in saying something about Fox, who was actually nice enough to let me stay with him while we were waiting for you to wake up. I think they had a confrontation and got in a fight."

"Why does that apply to us though?"

"I don't know if it does, but I think Fox is coming by soon to see you soon. We shouldn't be surprised to see Wolf if he comes by."

"I still think you're making too big of a deal out of this Jared."

"I know, but, we need to put a stop to this. We may be the only ones that can."

Bella angled her ears towards the hall; she could hear heavy footsteps and shouting. Both familiar and very angry.

Jared pushed the chair up closer to the vixen's head and rested his paw on hers. Bella returned the grip as he whispered, "Here we go."

The door flew open and several bodies entered so fast it was a blur, or maybe she was too tired to make the people out. As they slowed, Bella realized that it was Fox, Krystal, and Wolf. Falco followed in more slowly.

"I thought I told you, Fox," the older lupine snarled, "Keep yourself out of my son's business."

Bella opened her mouth but Krystal raised a paw and lowered it down slowly, signaling to her not to say anything. She closed it again and continued watching.

The avian sprung forward and pinned Wolf to the wall.

The vulpine stepped forward, "I know you want more than that," his voice was surprisingly calm for the situation, "Now what else is there that you want?"

The wolf dragged his claws along the wall, "You dead, and I'm not going to rest until I get it!" he broke Falco's grip and leaped at Fox. He fell over with a loud yip with Wolf on top. Bella looked frantically up at Jared who mouthed.

_Wait for it._

The vixen tightened her muscles and pulled her lips back.

"Any last words McCloud," the lupine hissed.

"I have a few," the falcon said coming up behind, "Get your filthy paws off my leader!" He grabbed the back of Wolf's shirt and threw him back up against the wall.

Fox stood back up and faced the lupine, "Now are you ready to talk?"

"No," he growled and punched the vulpine in the gut. Bella gasped as he leaned over, grabbing at his stomach. She pushed herself up as she felt the energy gather in her mind. Jared moved his arm up her arm and gently began to push her back down, but she resisted it and focused on the older wolf.

"Stop!" Krystal pleaded.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Wolf's voice was sarcastic, "I didn't mean to hurt him," he kicked his leg out, knocking Fox's feet out from under him.

Jared opened his mouth to say something, but Bella was quicker.

"Stop!" she yelled, but her command was backed by a wave of energy that she felt roll off of her and make contact with Wolf's mind. She blinked and watched as Falco let go of him and stagger back as the lupine slouch against the wall.

" Wait…What'd you just do?" Jared asked.

"I-I don't know," she admitted. She then realized that Krystal was looking at her with an expression almost satisfied. The vixen new she was part Cerinian, but she never new she had powers like that.

Wolf recovered, "Oh… Bella." He said as he walked around the other side of the cot, ignoring Jared, "I totally forgot you were here. What an honor it is to meet you… again," he reached out and lightly touched her cheek. The vixen pulled away, his touch was cold. Wolf continued, "Last time I saw you, you were in much better condition than this," he looked up at Jared almost suspiciously, "I wonder why that is."

Bella opened her mouth to say something, but the lupine shot out with his paw and clamped her muzzle shut.

"Hey!" Fox snapped, "Keep your paws off her."

Wolf looked back and spoke, "You should learn some respect," he snapped, "Can't you see I'm busy."

Jared spoke, "Wolf, it's no use, just let her go."

The older lupine bared his teeth at his son though the younger wolf didn't flinch, "You stay out of this Jared," he raised another paw and pointed a claw at him, "You're next."

Something was soaking into Bella's gauze. She looked down over Wolf's paw and saw a deep red liquid soaking into the bandages.

Jared noticed as well, "Some of her stitches must have broken," he said, "We need to get a nurse before it bleeds too much."

Bella tried pulling Wolf's paw away, but his grip only tightened and the vixen began to panic as she felt her breathing open the gash even more. Fox ran out the door and Wolf shoved her head away and ran after him while Krystal rushed forward and knelt down.

"Will she be alright?" she asked desperately as Bella's eyelids began to droop and more blood was lost.

"She'll be okay," the voices were beginning to slur in Bella's mind. She felt the wolf's warm breath on her ear, as he whispered, "Just hold on, I love you."

The door opened and a slender raccoon walked in. She rushed forward and said something to Krystal and Jared but the vixen couldn't understand what it was. Though she did when they stood up.

"No!" she cried, "Jared!! Come back!!" tears streamed down her face as he looked back and mouthed three words.

_I love you._

"No!!" Bella shouted but the door closed and she was left in darkness.

--

Unknown

Bella's eyes fluttered open. Each breath was strained and was painful. She groaned softly and looked around.

"Oh, thank God she's awake, Fox! She's awake!?"

"Oh," there was a rush of air and she felt Fox next to her, "Bella, Bella can you hear me?"

She nodded, "Uh huh. What happened?"

"Some of your stitches broke, they had to put you down and put more in."

"How many more?"

"At least seventeen?"

"Ugh. Which makes how many all together?"

"Seventy eight."

"I regret asking."

The vulpine ran a paw through her hair, "You're fine," he assured her, "Just don't breath too deeply."

"It's a lot harder than it seems."

"Listen to what he saying Bella, you're only gonna cause yourself more time here if you don't."

The vixen twisted her head around to see Jared sitting next to her, "You're not helping Jared," she growled.

He leaned back. Bella twisted her head back around, "Where's Wolf?"

"He…" Fox gritted his teeth together, "Don't worry about him, you're not gonna hear from him for a while."

Bella sighed, she was too tired to argue, she let her head drop so it was leaning on the pillow and stared up at the vulpines deep green eyes, "I wanna go home."

"I know you do," her father's words did little to help though, "Just a few more weeks then you'll be outta here."

"No. Now."

Fox sighed, "Trust me, Bella. It's better if you stay here. Recovery will be much quicker and rehab will be easier."

Bella grumbled, "Fine, I'll stay, _just_ for you though. Nothing else."


	19. Chapter 19Epilogue A Daughter's Return

A/N: Hey, sorry it took so long. Early and Late at the same time. Lots of crap going on my life. Last chapter….

--

2 Months later…

--

"Miss McCloud… Miss McCloud?"

The vixen's eyes fluttered open. Standing above her were a falcon, a wolf and a raccoon. She blinked several times to adjust but something wasn't right.

Bella couldn't feel her leg. It felt as if it had been cut off at the knee, had they amputated it?

"What's wrong?" a doctor asked.

"I- I can't feel my leg," she stammered.

"I know," the lupine assured her, "It'll probably feel like that for a while. We took the cast off during the night. We need to start strengthening your legs."

Bella looked down, "Oh, okay, where are Fox and Krystal."

"They're waiting outside. Let's go so you can see them."

The vixen held up her paws and two of the doctors lifted her up gently. They held her arms around their shoulders and supplied support as she limped heavily out of the room. Sitting outside, where Fox and Krystal. The vulpine stood and slipped himself under another one of the doctors.

They eased her into a wheelchair and rolled her into the parking lot. Bella sighed and leaned her head back and took a deep breath of the crisp winter air. Spring was approaching.

_Spring brings new life…_ She thought to herself.

Fox rolled her into a different building of the hospital, they came into a new room, a large, gym looking arena. Different doctors and patients were staggered among the room. The vixen was taken to a near empty section and helped out of the chair. Sitting in front of her was a horizontal ten foot pole. She grabbed onto it, her strengthening arm muscles straining as she held onto it as tightly as she could.

The falcon walked to the other end and motioned for her to come to him. She lifted one leg and took a shaky step forward, Fox next to her, one arm extended in case she fell.

Five long minutes later, Bella reached the end of the pole. Fox took her and set her down on a bench, handing her a water bottle. She took it and took a long drink. The vulpine and Krystal walked off to talk with the doctors. After several minutes, a husky limped up to her and sat down.

"Hi," she greeted the vixen, "I'm Lenna Betz," she held out a paw, which was encased in a black cast.

Bella shook it gently, "I'm Bella McCloud, how long have you-"

The dog cut her off, "You mean… You're the daughter of Fox McCloud?"

"Uh… Yeah, that's me."

Lenna furrowed her eyebrows together, "How'd you end up here?"

Bella twisted her grip on the bottle, "Long story."

"I've got time."

"Bella!"

The vixen looked up to see Fox waving to her, "You have a visitor," following his statement, Jared walked in. He jogged up to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Not too tight," she gasped.

The lupine let go, "Oh… Sorry. How've you been?"

"So so. It's gonna be a long rehab session."

"How?"

"It took me five minutes to walk ten feet."

The wolf chuckled, "You're right. It is going to be long."

"You're not helping."

The raccoon came up to Bella and offered her is paw. She took it and he helped her back to the rod. She was able to complete it quicker this time, though she still had a ways to go. The doctors treated her with utmost patience and allowed her to take breaks whenever she needed them. By the end of the month, she was able to walk without support and by the end of the next, she was able to walk and run with hardly a limp.

"You're lucky," the doctors had told her and Fox, "You've made a surprisingly quick recovery considering the condition you had been in."

Bella nodded, Fox looked at her with pride. As she looked at him, she could have sworn she could see the reflection of James McCloud in his green eyes. She blinked, and he was gone. The thought brought her back to that day so many months ago when she had encountered him for the first time. It felt like so long ago now.

The vulpine wrapped his arms around his daughter's almost completely new body and lifted her up. He set her down, wiping the tears out of his eyes. He reached into his pocked and pulled out a pair of black sunglasses and handed them to her.

"Dad," he laughed, new tears welling up in his eyes, though Bella couldn't tell if they were of sadness or joy, "when he was still alive, he was simply known as the guy with the sunglasses. Even with the people that knew him well," the tears began to leak, "He never lived to see me past nineteen. But the day Peppy brought the glasses home without the owner… Heh… I knew what was wrong immediately. I just remember thinking, the day you were born, I was in the middle of battle when I found out. But when I found out, luckily, I was allowed to go back to Corneria to watch you. I saw you for the first time. You didn't cry once. You took my paw…" he took hers and held it hard between both of his, "You held it so tight. And I thought, you're gonna be so strong when you get older, but what will I do if I die? The day when Krystal and I were attacked, the last thing that went through my mind was your face. And the first thing I saw when I woke up was your small face. I see you now, and I can't believe, you were that little worried face in the hospital," the vulpine smiled, "Now I am."

Bella stepped forward and pressed her ear against the older fox's chest, "No matter what happens," she stopped briefly, searching for the right words, "You're always be Fox McCloud," she looked up at him, "But you'll always be my father first."

Fox choked back a sob and let go of her, leaving the glasses in her paws, "Come on. Let's go home."

--

When they arrived back on the Great Fox, Bella could not escape telling stories to the team before leaving to go to bed. Even Falco seemed to take interest towards the end. Peppy listened silently and respectfully as she admitted to her encounters with James while Fox's jaw dropped multiple times. There was silence when she was done. Bella stood and walked into her room without another word.

"Lights on," she said, closing the door behind her. The vixen looked up and slammed back into the door.

"You alright?" Fox called.

"Yeah," she replied, tears leaking out of her eyes. She wiped them and let out a low sob.

"If you're gonna stand there all day crying, then this is a complete waste of my time. What? No greeting?"

Bella smiled and threw herself into Jared's arms, his warm hugs and his soft kisses. He held her in his arms and gently rubbed her back.

"Do Fox and Krystal know you're here?" she blurted out.

He smiled, "Don't worry, of course they do."

The fox curled up into his chest, listening to the heart beat behind the loose black button up shirt the lupine wore.

"Jared," Bella said, nervous, staring at the sheets on her bed, "There's something I want to do before you go back to Sargasso."

He waited for her to continue, but she didn't. Her face was hot.

"Whatever you want," the wolf encouraged, anxious and completely clueless.

"Do you promise?" the vixen muttered, knowing her attempt to trap him with his words was not going to work, but still unable to resist.

"Yes," Jared said. Bella looked up to see that his eyes were earnest and confused, "Tell me what you want and you can have it."

The vixen couldn't believe how awkward and idiotic she felt. She was too innocent- which was central to the conversation now. She didn't have the faintest idea how to be seductive. She would have to settle for flushed and self conscious.

"You," Bella mumbled almost incoherently.

"I'm yours," he smiled, still oblivious, trying to hold her gaze as she looked away again. She took a deep breath and shifted forward so she was kneeling on the bed. she wrapped her arms around Jared and kissed him.

He kissed back, bewildered, but willing. His lips were gentle against hers, and she could tell his mind was elsewhere, probably wondering what was on _her_ mind. She decided he needed a hind.

Bella's paws were slightly as she unlocked her arms from around the lupines neck. Her fingers slid down his neck to the collar of his shirt. The trembling didn't help as she tried to hurry to undo the buttons of his shirt before he stopped her. Jared's lips froze, and she could almost hear the click in his head as he put together her words and her actions.

He pushed her away, "Be reasonable, Bella. You just got out of the hospital."

"You promised me, whatever I wanted," the vixen reminded him without hope.

"We're not having this discussion," he glared at her as he refastened the buttons she had manage to undo.

Bella clamped her teeth together.

"I say we are," she growled, reaching a paw up and undoing the first button of her blouse.

He grabbed her wrists and pinned them to her sides.

"I say we're not," he said flatly.

They glowered at each other.

"You wanted to know," she pointed out.

"I thought you would do something faintly realistic."

"So you can ask for any stupid, ridiculous thing you want? Like getting away from _Sargasso_ with me. But I'm probably not even allowed to discuss what I-"

While Bella was ranting, the wolf secured both of her paws in one of his and put the other over her muzzle.

"No, not now," his face was hard.

Rejection washed through her, instinctive and strong. She scowled at the bed and tried to banish the reflex that made her feel unwanted.

Jared sighed, the paw over her mouth moved under her chin and pulled Bella's face up until she had to look at him.

"What now?"

"Nothing," she mumbled.

So quickly she wasn't even sure how it had happened, the vixen was in his arms, her face cradled between his shoulders and his paw while his thumb stroked reassuringly against her cheek.

"I don't know why I have to say no," he murmured, "But you know that I want you too right?"

"Do you?" Bella's voice was full of doubt.

"Of course I do, you silly, beautiful, oversensitive girl," the wolf laughed once then his voice was bleak, "Doesn't everyone? I feel like there's a line behind me, jockeying for my position. Waiting for me to make a big enough mistake… You're too desirable for your own good."

"Please," she whispered again, her heartbeat picking up speed. Her words tumbled out as she tried o take advantage of the uncertainty in the lupines eyes, "You don't have to make me any guarantees. If it doesn't work out right, well, that's just that. Just let us try… only try and I'll give you what you want. Just… _please_."

Jared's arms were around her tighter, his lips were at her ear, his breath soft, "This is unbearable for me right now. So many things I've already wanted to get you and _this _is what you demand? Do yo have any idea how painful it is, refusing when you plead to me like this?"

"Then don't refuse," she suggested breathlessly.

Jared didn't respond.

"Please," she tried again.

"Bella…" he shook his head slowly, but it didn't feel like denial. His face, his lips, moved back and forth across her throat. It felt more like surrender. The fox's heart, already racing, sputtered frantically.

Again, she took advantage of what she could. When his face turned towards hers, Bella twisted quickly in his arms until her lips reached his. His hand seized her face and she thought he was going to push her away. But she was wrong.

The wolf's mouth was not gentle; there was a brand new edge of conflict and desperation in the way his lips moved. Bella locked her arms around his neck and began to tremble.

He didn't stop kissing the vixen. She was the one who had to pull away, gasping for air. Even then his lips did not leave her skin, they just moved down to her throat. The thrill of victory was a strange high; it made her feel powerful. Brave. Her paws weren't unsteady now. Bella got through the buttons of his shirt easily now, and her paws trailed over the powerful muscles that had been concealed by the clothing.

She pulled his muzzle back to hers and Jared seemed just as eager as she was. One of his paws still cupped her face, his other arm wrapped around her waist, straining her closer. It made it slightly more difficult for her to reach the front of her shirt, but not impossible.

The lupines paws pushed hers away and locked them around her wrists and lifted them above her head, which was suddenly on a pillow.

His lips were at her ear again, "Bella," he whispered, "You haven't forgotten your manners have you?"

She stretched her fingers so they were touching the bed frame, "Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to do that part tonight?"

"Not tonight."

"Jared-"

"I'm not saying no. Just not tonight."

He wrapped his strong arms around her and onto his side, taking her with him so she was tucked close to his chest.

"Sleep now," he whispered, "You're home now."

Bella nodded and stared out over the stars. For a moment she could see the face of James McCloud reflected in their light. But as soon as she saw him, he was gone.

The vixen sighed and closed her eyes. She was home.

--

Epilogue—Truce

1300 Hours/ 17 April, 2132/ Sargasso Space Hideout

"_Bella. Are you sure about this?"_

The vixen sighed, "Don't worry Jared, this wasn't even my idea and besides, fox knows what he's doing."

"_I'm still not sure. Wolf hasn't been very happy lately."_

She rolled her eyes, "Is Wolf ever happy."

"_No," _he mumbled, _"But what's the point? They're gonna retire soon anyway."_

Bella smiled, "Trust me, I think retirement is the last thing on Fox's mind right now."

There was back round talking and Jared paused, _"It's only you and Fox right?"_

"Yeah."

"_Let them in,"_ he called to whoever had been talking before, _"I'll see you later, I'm in my Wolfen right now. I love you." _

"Love you too," Bella closed the link and flew into the hangar, Fox next to her. The vixen stared at the ring on the fourth finger on her left paw. She touched her nose to it and leaped out of the cockpit to help her father. He landed on the floor with a heavy grunt and staggered to regain his balance.

Bella looked around and growled, reaching for the blaster that hung on her belt as several apes formed a tight circle around the two foxes, each holding a gun.

Fox pushed her paw away, "Not yet," he whispered, "we don't want to look like a threat."

"Bella?"

A gap formed in the circle and Jared entered. He waved the guards off and, "I'll take it from here."

The apes left reluctantly, the lupine stopped one and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and amble off.

The wolf turned to Bella, "So, you guys wanna truce huh?"

The vulpine glared at her and the vixen stared at her feet.

"He's my fiancé," she reminded his quietly, "I can't keep any secrets form him."

There were heavy footsteps and Bella's ears flicked as a loud, gruff voice echoed throughout the hangar.

"Jared!!!"

Chills ran down Bella's spine, but the young lupine didn't flinch.

Wolf O'Donnell stormed into the room and locked a massive paw around Fox's neck, cutting off the airway in the vulpines throat. Fox grabbed at O'Donnell's paw, but his frailing body was no match for the older lupines steel grip.

Bella watched in horror as Fox's struggles began to weaken. His eyelids drooped and his eyes began rolling into the back of his head. She whipped the blaster out and fired once. The laser skimmed Wolf's wrist. He yelped and dropped her father. He sunk to his knees, rubbing his throat, coughing as he regained his breath. Bella dropped her gun and rushed forward, giving the vulpine support as he heaved himself up.

"Nice shot," he gasped, still out of breath.

The vixen shrugged. She then turned her head and glared at Wolf, who was breathing heavily, holding onto his wrist. She grabbed the blaster and stood between them, Jared soon at her side.

"Please," she said, "We just want you guys to make a truce."

The wolf glared at his son, "So, both of you are in on this? Why am I not surprised?"

Jared nodded and took her paw in his and met his gaze steadily, "We don't want for there to be any problems."

Wolf snarled, "We've got one right now," he glowered at the vixen, "If she hadn't interfered, we would be done."

Bella stepped forward and squared her shoulders, the lupine was at least a head taller than her, but she held her ground and met his stare.

She kept her voice calm, "You've proved yourself stronger than Fox and I physically," she tapped the side of her head, "But how 'bout mentally?"

"Watch yourself Bella," Fox warned.

"Mentally?" the lupine scoffed, "How are you mentally stronger than me?"

The vixen walked in a tight circle around him, "Remember that one day, so many years ago? I was in the hospital, I believe you had tried to attack my father and I stopped you with something like this," she finished by lashing out with her mind and wrapping it around that of Wolf's and pulled it in. Taken by surprise, he sunk to his knees and grabbed his head, moaning as the pain grew. Bella didn't bother with looking through his thoughts, she just wanted to get a point across.

"Okay, Bella, stop," Fox's voice was urgent, "He's had enough."

She pulled back and waited as Wolf staggered to his feet, staring at her as if she were crazy.

"So what do you say?" she asked, "Something simple, you don't bother us, we won't bother you?" she held out her paw.

The wolf looked form her, to Fox, to Jared, then back to her, he was outnumbered, "Fine," he growled and shook her paw once, then pushed it way and turned on his heel and walked away.

Jared remained where he was when Fox approached her.

"That was well done, Bella," he said, "That's exactly what a good leader would do," he winked.

Bella gasped, "You mean…"

The older fox nodded, "I'm done, I'm too old to do this anymore."

Bella couldn't suppress the squeak of excitement as she wrapped her arms around him. She released him and ran to Jared.

"Wanna go to Corneria for a little bit?" she asked, exited.

The lupine nodded and looked to Fox, who nodded.

"Go ahead. Why would I stop you?"

Jared jumped up onto the wing of his Wolfen and swung his legs around into the cockpit. The vixen climbed into her Arwing and took off towards the stars, the wolf not far behind.

When they arrived to Corneria, Jared led Bella over the vast ocean to a small island and landed in a small opening in the thick canopy. She shut the engines off and stepped out of the cockpit, leaning against the fuselage, "What's this?"

He shrugged, balancing on the nose of his fighter, "I saw it while I was flying not very long ago, thought you would like to visit."

She jumped down and swung her self around so she was leaning on the glass covering to the cab of the Wolfen, "I love it already. Let's go explore."

Jared turned his head around and grinned, "Alright," he stepped down and ran into the forest.

Bella rolled herself and slid down the hull of the jet. She landed on the grass and ran after him. He came to a tree with low hanging branches and began climbing it. The vixen followed quickly. He stopped and parted the branched. She crouched next to him and he wrapped an arm around her waist, "Watch," he whispered.

As soon as the bottom of Sol hit the horizon of the ocean, the water lit up to look like a sheet of flame. The clouds lit up and the sky changed to a orange-purple.

"Beautiful," she whispered.

"I wouldn't use the word beautiful," Jared's voice was unimpressed, "Not with you sitting here in comparison."

The vixen smiled and rested her head on Jared's shoulder, watching as the sun slowly sunk beyond the horizon.

The lupine released her and began maneuvering himself down the tree. Bella followed and they walked back to the planes. She looked up to see stars splashed all over the night sky. She dropped down on the grass and watched as a comet soared above them. Jared lay down next to her, his eyes reflecting the streak of light, "Like it?" he asked.

She raised her head and rested it on his chest, listening to his soft heartbeat, "It's amazing," she sighed.

One of his arms wound around her back while the other rested behind his head, "You know," he said, "When I first met you, I could've sworn you were glowing."

Bella smiled, "And you're telling me now because…"

"You're doing so as well tonight."

She laughed softly and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Sure it's not just the moon?"

"Positive."

She sighed and closed her eyes.

When Jared woke her again, he was gently shaking her.

"What?" she asked.

He pointed up at the sky, watch.

As she looked up, the rising sun broke over the trees and flooded the clearing with light and warmth, and it seemed to Bella that no dawn had ever been brighter.

The End.

Dedicated to everyone who gave me support in this Fanfiction, also to Isabella Cutbirth, and Jared Beifuss, where the inspiration for these two characters was born, and for also being fellow Starfox fans with me!

And especially to Michael Gollihue for being a wonderful editor and continuously pushing me to finish this story.

Thank you:

DemonicFox16, SyxxFox, MJGollie, ShadowFox, SnakeOfTheRose,

Check out my own review for A Daughter's Return on my profile!


End file.
